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open- Air Preaching 



Edwin Hallock Byington 




iSee page 67.) 



BISHOP ALDHELM'S MEMORIAL. 



Open-Air Preaching 



H practical /iDanual 

FOR 

PASTORS, EVANGELISTS, AND OTHER 
CHRISTIAN WORKERS 



Edwin Hallock Byington 

ASSISTANT MINISTER OF THE CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMS 
\ I ^ ^ BROOKLYN, N. Y. 




5/7V y 



Hartford, Conn. 

IbartforD ZhcoloQical Seminary 

• 1 892 



e>^ 



^t^ 




Copj^ght by 

Hartford Theological Seminary. 

1892. 



PRESS OF THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD COMPANY, 
HARTFORD, CONN. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction by Rev. A. F. Schauffler, D.D., . .; . . 5 

Author's Note, 8 

Open-Air Preaching 

In the EstabHshment of the Church, 9 

In the Extension of the Church, 15 

In the Reformation of the Church, 27 

In the Normal Life of the Church, . . . . . . 41 

" The more of it, the better ! " 61 

As a Factor in City Evangelization, 72 

" Who will go for us ? " 83 

The Best Methods, 85 

Index, loi 



(3) 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Bishop Aldhelm Memorial, 

In the Punjaub, India, . . . . 

(By kindness of the Church Missionary Society.) 

At Tarokeshor, India, 

(By kindness of the Baptist Missionary Society.) 

One of Wiclif s Poor Priests, 
At Llanerch Colliery, ..... 
Open-Air Pulpit, St. Mary's, Whitechapel, 
In Paradise Court, . . 

At the Seaside, 

In Regent's Park, London, .... 
Jeremy Taylor Preaching in Camp, 
Wesley Preaching on his Father's Tomb, 
In Mitre Court, Gloucester, .... 
A Location Wisely Chosen, . . . . 
A Fisherman's Sermon, .... 

The Mulberry Tree, Mildmay Park, London, 



Frontispiece. 

22 
24 
26 

34 
43 

SO 
. 56 



60 
68 

71 
80 
90 

97 
98 



The illustrations in this book represent real scenes in open-air work. 
The plates were made in England., under the direction of '■''The Open-Air 
Mission,^'' and were presented by its Secretary to the author as an expres- 
sion of interest. 



(4) 



INTRODUCTION. 



About two thousand years ago a noted person said, "The 
children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children 
of light." This witness was true, and has remained so from that day 
to this, for, in the race for success, they have kept ahead for two 
thousand years. If any one desires proof of this, it is at hand, and 
in the matter of reaching the people, is not far to seek. Note, for 
example, the outdoor political gatherings in all of our great cities. 
Large platforms are erected and popular speakers put on them, 
reinforced by bands, banners, and electric lights, and all for the simple 
purpose of getting votes. Nowhere in all the world does the Church 
put forth such efforts to reach the people as do these political parties. 
It is a liberal education for the young minister, fresh from the 
"cloistered halls " of the Seminary, to attend one of these meetings, 
and see how direct and forcible are the burning appeals for action 
that are shot forth. There is no uncertainty of sound at these 
gatherings. It would seem from the way in which the orators speak 
as if the destiny of humanity for a millennium hung on the votes that 
are to be cast at the coming election. If such blood-earnestness 
were shown in our sermons, we should have more definite results. 
Many political harangues are red-hot, while many sermons are 
ice-cold ; hence the difference in the results. 

Note again the way in which the man who has not the means to 
rent a store goes out on the street and seeks his customers where he 
can find them. His oratory is at times of no mean order, and might 
well be copied in its practical methods by the graduate from the 
Seminary. Since men will not come to him, he goes to them, and 
what is more, he goes for them, and in many cases he gets them. Is 
there not in all this a lesson for the Church ? If the people will not 
come to us, why should we stand and grumble when we have the 

(5) 



opportunity of going to them ? Is it not stupid to find fault with 
them when the fault lies at our own door ? 

Now if this matter of outdoor preaching were a new or an un- 
scriptural thing, we might well pause and think it over ^ very carefully 
before trying it. But since it is "as old as the hills," and has 
abundant scriptural warrant, and the personal sanction of our Master, 
why under the sun should any one pause for a moment ? I fancy I 
see the Apostle Paul in a modern ministers' meeting, listening to a 
debate on this subject, and hearing the arguments for "caution" in 
this regard. When it came his turn to speak, what do you suppose 
would be the line of his remarks ? Think you he would say, "Well, 
brethren, I used to preach out of doors constantly, but after hearing 
this debate I have come to the conclusion that I made a great 
mistake, and if I had my work to do over again, I would not preach 
from the steps of the tower of Antonia, or from Mars' Hill." Perish 
the thought ! I rather fancy he would utter some burning words 
about the lethargy of the modern Church in not taking advantage of 
every opportunity to make known the Gospel of the blessed Lord. 

This book shows that in modern times street-preaching has been 
abundantly used of God for the salvation of men. I myself have seen 
in front of the Albert Hall in Liverpool a Gospel wagon drive up at 
ten in the morning, and then from that time till ten at night there 
was incessant service going on, and relay after relay of workers took 
their turns at the grand work. The crowds were constantly chang- 
ing, so that in the course of the day a very large number of people 
were reached by the message. I could not help admiring the pluck 
and the common-sense of that band of men and women who thus 
seized a place of common meeting of the populace, and gave them 
a chance to hear the truth at any time of the day. 

In London I have seen street-preaching time and again. In 
fact, near the Tower Hamlet's mission, on the broad sidewalk, I have 
seen two services going on at the same time, the one not more than 
two hundred feet from the other, and in one the Gospel was being 
proclaimed red-hot, while in the other equally red-hot atheism was 
being set forth. Men went from the one to the other, and yet all was 
done decently and in order. I was pleased to see that the Gospel 
preacher got and held a larger audience than the infidel. 



In New York this same method has been a.dopted with marked 
results. It makes with us very little difference what the weather is. 
The people will stand and listen even if the thermometer is down to 
the freezing point, and the rain makes not much change in their 
attendance. Where the preaching is regular, there are always those 
who will come week after week, and if there are tenement houses 
near, they will throw up the windows and listen to the truth. We 
have also used the stereopticon in giving pictures of the life of 
Christ, — and this is a very popular service. If held outside of the 
church, you can then at the close of the service get many to enter 
who could be gotten hold of in no other way. 

But what is the use of saying anything more on the subject 
when it is so fully discussed in this volume ? All that is needed in 
an introduction is that the writer should commend that which is to 
be found in the volume, and say that he is in hearty accord with it. 
This I do with all my heart, and commend the practice to all who 
wish to obey their Master's injunctions, and "go out into the high- 
ways and hedges and compel them to come in." Mr. Byington has 
done a most needed work, and has done it well, and now only one 
thing remains, and that is for the readers of the book to carry out 
the practical suggestions that they will find in its pages. 

A. F. SCHAUFFLER. 



AUTHOR'S NOTE. 



I have written the following pages with a firm faith in the 
value of open-air preachi7ig and a strong assurance that its more 
general adoption will aid the Church in solving some problems of 
modern life. If the book succeeds in giving an impulse to a wider 
and wiser use of open-air preaching, I shall feel repaid for my 
labors. 

I use the word preaching in the broad New Testament sense, 
meaning ^^ any proclamation of Gospel truth, whether brief or pro- 
tracted, with or without a text, by church officer or private member." 
The appeal is to laymen as well as ministers. 

I desire to express my appreciation of the assistance given me 
by the Open-Air Mission of London and by its efficient Secretary, 
Mr. Gawin Kirkham, of the encouragemejit and couftsel of my 
former instructor. Professor Waldo S. Pratt of Hartford Theological 
Seminary, and especially of the sympathy and aid coming from 
my own home. 

Edwin Hallock Eying ton. 



Brooklyn, N ¥., 

April, 1892. 



(8) 



OPEN-AIR PREACHING 

IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH. 



Open-air preaching is not one of the " new methods." It 
was the original way of extending among men the revealed will 
of God. Not only is it *' as old as preaching itself," but for 
centuries it was the only kind of preaching. " We are at full 
liberty to believe," says Spurgeon, "that Enoch, the seventh 
from Adam, when he prophesied, asked for no better pulpit than 
the hillside, and that Noah as a preacher of righteousness was 
willing to reason with his cotemporaries in the shipyard 
wherein his marvelous ark was builded." The absence of per- 
manent structures might account for its use in primitive times, 
but in the Mosaic era, when Jehovah worship was systematized 
and sacred buildings erected, we find neither in the commands 
of the Lord, nor in the customs of the people, the modern idea of 
a building into which the congregation should enter for worship 
and religious instruction. The Lord had His Tabernacle, the 
people had their tents ; but their place of meeting was beneath 
the blue sky. Moses' grand valedictory addresses, recorded in 
Deuteronomy, as well as all his others, were delivered in the 
open air. Three times on the plain on the east side of Jordan 
the venerable leader gathered the children of Israel about him. 
Forty years before he had said, " I am slow of speech and of a 
slow tongue ; " but now he spoke with a marvelous eloquence. 
To the south stretched the wilderness, the scene of his life's 
labor ; in the opposite direction lay the promised land — for all 
except himself; above him Nebo, his watch-tower, and his 
tomb ; and before him God's chosen people. Standing thus, he 
was moved mightily, and over that plain rang out an acknowl- 
edgment of God's mercies, a presentation of duties and an 
impassioned appeal such as no consecrated building ever heard. 
Moses, during the time of his leadership, gave extensive and 
minute directions for public worship, but closed his ministry 
without having authorized the erection of a covered auditorium 
for the worshipers. 

(9) 



lO 

Several of Joshua's open-air services must have been very 
touching and impressive. One he held on Mount Ebal, after 
all hearts had been softened by the punishment of Achan and 
the fall of Ai. Here he gathered not only the men, but th6 
women also, and even the httle children. At another he had 
present only "mighty men of valor," — the soldiers of the two 
and a half tribes, who several years before had left their wives, 
their little ones, and their possessions on the other side of Jor- 
dan, and had fought valiantly for their brethren. Now he spoke 
farewell words, and added a blessing. At his last service, when 
''Joshua was old and well stricken in years," he assembled 
the people and led them to renew their covenant with the Lord. 
Then taking a rock that had stood near their place of meeting, 
perhaps one he had used as a pulpit, he placed it under an oak 
tree and said : *' Behold, this stone shall be a witness against 
us ; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which He spake 
unto us : it shall be therefore a witness against you, lest ye 
deny your God." 

Naturally we find no change during the period of the Judges ; 
and after the manner of Moses, the lawgiver, did the prophet 
Samuel deliver his farewell address, when he surrendered to 
Saul the leadership. At Gilgal the people assembled to renew 
their covenant and to listen to the tender and faithful words of 
the " old and gray -headed " seer. Then no human structure, 
enclosing the assembly, concealed the fury and marred the 
effect of the storm, summoned by Samuel as a confirmation of 
his words and as a warning to king and people alike. They 
saw, what never before they had witnessed at that season of the 
year, the heavy black clouds rapidly rolling across the sky and 
darkening the day ; they felt the passionate embrace of the 
wind, and the pitiless rain beating upon them ; the lightning 
dazzled them ; " and all the people greatly feared the Lord and 
Samuel," as nature joined in the meeting and uttered her im- 
pressive "Amen." 

During David's reign the kingdom was extended and estab- 
lished, the dwelling-places became permanent, the king's palace 
was built, and the Temple planned. But, though it was now 
possible, we find no suggestion of a public building for worship 
after our fashion. Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the 
Temple was in the open air. " For Solomon had made a brazen 



II 

scaffold, and had it set in the midst of the caurt, and upon it he 
stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congrega- 
tion of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven." The 
Lord had His Temple, with the holy place covered, the people 
had their houses, but the worshipers continued to assemble in 
the courts of the Lord's house and other open places, as their 
fathers did before them in the wilderness. Possibly the method 
and place for religious instruction at that time is indicated by 
such passages as this from Proverbs : '* Wisdom crieth aloud 
in the streets. She uttereth her voice in the broad places. 
She crieth in the chief place of concourse ; at the entering in 
of the gates in the city she uttereth her words." 

Few religious services have equalled in the manifestation of 
divine power and in the number turned to the living God the 
one. held on Mount Carmel under the leadership of Elijah. 
Ninevah was brought to repentance by a prophet who preached 
not to an interested few in a quiet building, but whose voice 
rang out above the noise and confusion in the crowded streets 
of that great city. Jeremiah had no option. The Lord directed 
him very plainly : " Go forth unto the valley of the son of 
Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim 
there the words that I shall tell thee " : "Go and stand in the 
gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah 
come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of 
Jerusalem." Their own judgment as well as the commands of 
the Lord led Jeremiah and other prophets to seek the gates of 
the city. Here the street was thronged with the crowds coming 
in and going out. A more difficult place to preach it is hard to 
imagine ; but here they attracted attention, secured audiences, 
delivered their messages. These men were determined that the 
people should hear ''the word of the Lord," and over the surging 
multitude fearlessly they heralded the divine warnings and invi- 
tations. Another favorite place with these open-air preachers 
was the gate of the temple, where their earnest exhortations 
were addressed to the people entering for their formal and too 
often hypocritical acts of religious service. That these prophets 
sometimes encountered opposition and ridicule is evident from 
Isaiah's reference to those who "lay a snare for him that re- 
proveth in the gate," and Amos' warning to those who " hate 
him that reproveth in the gate." 



12 

The experience of the captivity resulted in no immediate 
change. On the return the Temple was rebuilt. Still there 
was no enclosed building for the worshiping multitudes. We 
learn from Nehemiah that the first pulpit ever made was not for 
use in a consecrated building, but for street preaching. "And 
all the people gathered themselves together as one man into 
the broad place that was before the water-gate. And Ezra, the 
scribe, stood upon a pulpit of wood which had been made for 
the purpose. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the 
people (for he was above all the people) ; and when he opened 
it, all the people stood up ; and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great 
God. And all the people answered. Amen ! Amen ! with the 
lifting up of their hands ; and they bowed their heads, and 
worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground." 

In the New Testament times the whole subject assumes a 
new aspect. The synagogue has appeared. The open-air service 
is no longer the sole, nor even the normal, religious gathering 
of the Jews. Formerly it was the rule, now it is the excep- 
tion. Then it was a necessity, now it is simply an alternative. 
Therefore, to find it almost as prominent in the establishment 
of the Christian Church as it was in the Jewish is specially 
significant. "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness," 
said John the Baptist, as he stood on the banks of the Jordan, 
and never were his warning words hemmed in by wall and roof, 
except when as a prisoner he spoke to King Herod, He was 
not excluded from the synagogues by the chief priests and 
elders, for " they feared the people ; for all verily held John 
to be a prophet"; but apparently he chose to begin and 
continue an open-air preacher. Thus better could he reach the 
masses, whose attention would not otherwise have been attracted 
so widely. Such a method, also, better accorded with the spirit 
of the man and the nature of his message. Here he was free 
from priestly supervision. Here he was responsible to none 
save to Him from whom he came, and whose temple, not made 
with hands, he occupied. He allowed no human structure to 
muffle the ringing tones of his warning voice ; nor human 
authority to muffle its moral power, as it rolled along the banks 
of Jordan, across the hills of Judea, past the Roman guards, into 
the king's palace. 

Our Saviour, while claiming a position above Jewish law 



( 



I 



13 

and custom, ordinarily followed them. Thus, naturally, we find 
Him attending the synagogue. Yet how few would be the 
treasured words, if only those spoken in consecrated buildings 
had been preserved for us. Like His forerunner, Christ was in 
the main an open-air preacher. Gather together His sermons 
on the mountains, His parables by the seashore. His warnings 
and encouragements along the wayside, and they will form a 
large part of His teachings. Rev. Dr. Kerr, in his lecture on 
preaching, referring to Christ, says : "Another sphere was His 
occasional preaching on the mountains, by the seashore, in the 
city, wherever men gathered about Him. In this He seems to 
have spent the great part of His ministry." Christ is well 
called by open-air preachers ''Our Great Exemplar." When 
we think of our possible relations with Him, had we lived in 
those days, how seldom do we picture ourselves shut up in a 
pew with the Master looking down upon us from behind a 
pulpit. Rather do we imagine ourselves sitting by Jacob's well, 
drinking eagerly the "water of life" He offered there. In 
thought we walk with Him by the wayside, we seat ourselves 
on the shore while He stands in the boat, or we recline on the 
green sward of the mountain side, as we listen to His words. 
Thus do we picture to ourselves the Son of Man. Thus artists 
have loved to paint Him, for thus He did His preaching. 

It is noticeable how much of His own personal spiritual life 
is associated with the open air. Early one morning He " went 
out and departed into a desert place and there prayed." After 
feeding the five thousand, when " He had sent the multitudes 
away. He went up into the mountain apart to pray." Before 
making the final choice of the twelve "He went out into the 
mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." 
The birth of the Saviour was proclaimed by the angels in the 
fields. He was baptized in Jordan. The temptation was in the 
wilderness ; His transfiguration on a mountain ; His agony in 
a garden ; His death on Calvary ; His ascension from a mount. 
Christ's was a life in the open air; there most of His miracles 
were performed, and there most of His preaching. Christ had 
no aversion to the synagogue. He simply went where the 
people were. He did not wait for them to seek Him. He 
sought them. 

The apostles evidently followed His example. When they 



14 

received the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, instead of 
having a delightful season of prayer and praise in that house 
where they were sitting, they went out where the people were, 
apparently on the street - — at least that would be inferred from 
the nature and size of the audience and the number of their 
converts. Paul usually went to the synagogues, but his first 
European convert found Christ on a river bank. He never 
delivered a more masterly address than that on Mars Hill at 
Athens, nor one of more intense and dramatic interest than 
when he stood on the castle stairs, and, beckoning with his 
hand, addressed as "men, brethren, and fathers" that street 
mob from whose violent hands he had just been rescued by the 
Roman soldiers. 

Thus the Bible record reveals that prophets and apostles, 
and above all, the great Head of the Church, were open-air 
preachers. It is a divinely appointed means of grace. It was 
faithfully practised. So far as preaching was a factor, it was 
by open-air preaching mainly that the Church of God was 
established on the earth. 



OPEN-AIR PREACHING 

IN THE EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH. 



Christianity is spreading in successive waves, varying in fre- 
quency and force, over the earth. Each land in turn is the seat 
of foreign missionary labor. The methods by which the Gos- 
pel secures its foothold are substantially the same everywhere. 
Among them we find open-air preaching practically universal 
and seemingly indispensable. It almost might be said that in 
every land, as in Judea, the message, " Behold, I bring you good 
tidings of great joy," was proclaimed for the first time to aston- 
ished hearers in the open air. 

In the first centuries, when persecution was often raging and 
always imminent, the Church extended her reign over men 
by personal rather than by public efforts. The Christians 
assembled in houses and halls, in caves and catacombs, where 
their gatherings would not attract attention. The first unequivo- 
cal mention of buildings designed for public worship occurs," 
says Kurtz, " in the writings of Tertullian at the close of the 
second century." Ordinarily, to have gathered a crowd on the 
street or any public place for a preaching service would have 
been simply to have invited attack and rekindled the flames of 
persecution. In this era there were no missionary societies and 
no celebrated missionaries, but every Christian was a missionary 
preacher, and many were the open-air sermons preached to 
audiences of one. On the street, by the wayside, in the fields, 
as well as in their houses and at their work, were the Christians 
alert to declare Christ. " Justin Martyr was converted," says 
Schaff, " by a venerable old man whom he met walking on the 
shore of the sea." The wonderful growth of the Church, in 
those times of poverty and persecution, was possible because 
there were so many preachers like the old man by the sea. 
There is little to record of this period, but probably never were 
there so many foreign missionaries — not even in this nine- 
teenth century — probably never since has the blue sky wit- 

(is) 



i6 

nessed so many proclamations of peace on earth, good will to 
men. 

In the following centuries we find the great missionaries, 
Patrick, Augustine, Boniface, and besides these many, not as 
famous, but as fearless and consecrated. These men did not go 
to build the cathedrals now standing in the lands of their labors. 
Their monasteries were not retreats from the world, but centers 
of Christian activity ; not places for gathering congregations, 
but starting-points for further advances. They did not, however, 
wait for the erection of these buildings before beginning their 
work. They always pressed forward rapidly, often with no visi- 
ble means of support. They penetrated dark, dismal forests, 
inhabited by hostile warriors, and beneath their shadows pro- 
claimed the Christian faith. They sailed stormy seas, landed on 
rugged coasts, and before savage hordes held up the cross. 
Not more astonished were the pigmies of Africa at the sight of 
Stanley than were these barbarians at the appearance among 
them of the monks with their somber dress, their earnest man- 
ner, and their fearless though defenseless advance. The mis- 
sionaries made no delay for the erection of buildings for relig- 
ious services. That would have been fatal alike to their 
enterprise and their own lives. Quickly to the crowds question- 
ing who they were, whence and why they came, they earnestly 
declared their message, sometimes struggling with the newly 
acquired language of their auditors, sometimes through an inter- 
preter, sometimes through signs. Of course these men were 
open-air preachers. Circumstances made them such ; their 
own earnestness made them such. Most monks dwelt in 
monasteries more concerned about their own souls than the per- 
ishing peoples of other lands ; but some were consecrated tO' 
winning the masses for Christ and his Church, determined that 
in this " dark continent " of the first centuries the idols should 
be cast down and the cross uplifted. They traveled not in cov- 
ered coaches, but often on foot, or at best on beasts of burden. 
In the open air they ate and slept, and there they preached. It 
was their house ; it was their temple. They forgot themselves 
and their surroundings. They were intense ; perhaps they were 
extravagant in their zeal, and intolerant in their beliefs, and 
superficial in their work, but they had a Pauline passion for 
preaching Christ to all men. They had little money, time, and 



17 

strength for the erection of buildings ; they ever pressed on into 
unconquered and unknown regions. To have limited these 
missionary monks to decorous in-door services would have 
been almost impossible. They were irrepressible. An exam- 
ple of their zeal is shown in St. Berard, a Franciscan, who 
was sent with four other monks to preach the Gospel to 
the Mohammedans of the West. They began in Spain and then 
went to Morocco, where they were advised by the resident 
Christians to moderate their zeal. But the first morning they 
were out on the streets preaching Jesus Christ to the followers 
of Mohammed. The king happened to pass them one day, and 
paused to hear what they were saying. The monk, instead of 
being awed into silence or moderation, was inspired to greater 
earnestness in his appeal. The king, thinking him mad, 
ordered him sent to a Christian country. On the way the mis- 
sionaries escaped from their guards. Instead of using their 
liberty to choose another field of labor, they returned to 
Morocco, and commenced preaching in the public square. 
Again they were sent away, and again escaping they returned 
to preach in the same place. 

These missionaries were not all ignorant, narrow-minded men. 
Among them was Raymond Lull, " a man who, in the four- 
teenth century, traveled more than ninety-nine persons out of 
every hundred in these days of railroads and steamships ; a man 
who wrote more books than almost any man would be able in a 
lifetime to translate." In his eightieth year he was engaged in 
missionary work. His friends advised his laboring with those 
known to be friendly to his cause. He tried this for a time, but 
it was contrary to the whole nature of the man, and he soon took 
his stand in the public square and commenced to preach that the 
only salvation is through Jesus Christ. A crowd gathered about 
him and commenced an attack when they heard what he was 
saying. Stones were thrown, and he was driven back out of the 
city. " Yet grandly he kept his face to the foe, and in a voice 
from which the enthusiasm of the apostle threw off the weight 
of four score years, he still proclaimed Christ, 'None but 
Christ.' At last he fell down on the sandy shore, but rallying 
his strength for one supreme effort, he raised himself on his 
hands and knees and shouted, *None but Christ,' " 

A Roman Catholic priest, advocating open-air preaching and 



i8 

replying to an objector, says in The Catholic World: "Evi- 
dently the writer has small acquaintance with the lives of all re- 
nowned heroic and successful Christian missionaries from the 
Apostles down. Has he never heard of a St. Augustine, who 
did so much for the conversion of England, or of a St. Boniface, 
a St. Patrick, a St. Dominic, a St. Francis of Assisi, a St. An- 
thony of Padua, or a St. Vincent Ferrer } Has he ever read 
of how, when, and where all these and thousands of other great 
missionaries preached to unbelievers t That holy Dominican 
monk whom I last named is credited with having converted in 
the kingdom of Spain eight thousand Moors, and thirty-six thou- 
sand Jews. Did he take his stand in one or another pulpit of 
some Catholic church, and from there deliver this miraculous 
proclamation of the Catholic faith t No, he did what all success- 
ful preachers have done. He went to those whom he sought to 
convert. He did not wait for strange and lost sheep to come 
back of their own will ; but he went where they were to be 
found — and that was anywhere but within the four walls of a 
Catholic church." 

The most important open-air service since the days of 
the Apostles was held by some missionaries in the year 597, 
on the Isle of Thanet, near the mouth of the Thames in 
England. Pope Gregory, charmed by the sweet faces of the 
fair-haired Anglo-Saxon boys offered as slaves at Rome, de- 
sired to go as a missionary to England. Being prevented, he 
sent Augustine the monk. King Ethelbert, having married a 
Christian princess, was kindly disposed, and consented to give 
the new religion a hearing. They met in the open air. 
Prayer was offered ; the litany was sung, and the Gospel 
preached. The king saw all the service, and by means of in- 
terpreters was enabled to understand what was said. He gave 
this decision : " Your words and promises are very fair ; but as 
they are new to us, and of uncertain import, I cannot forsake 
the religion I have so long followed with the whole English 
nation. Yet, as you are come from far, and are desirous to 
benefit us, I will supply you with the necessary sustenance, and 
not forbid you to preach, and convert as many as you can to 
your religion." Soon after the king accepted the new faith, 
received baptism, and gradually drew after him the whole 
nation. Had the missionaries refused to conduct their service 



19 

out of doors, or had the king's verdict been unfavorable, the 
progress of the Gospel in England would long have been 
delayed. 

The missionaries of the Middle Ages did not limit their open- 
air work to the first proclamation. They erected the cross by 
the roadsides, in the fields, at the foot of which they stood while 
preaching, and where the people assembled regularly for services 
of worship. " They gathered around it for public and daily prayer, 
and were inspired by it with a veneration not less affectionate 
than that which attached to the sanctuary." These crosses 
have given names to many localities, and are m.onuments to the 
zeal and wisdom of those who were determined that Christ 
should be brought constantly before all men. 

Passing from mediaeval to modern missions, we find a 
marked change in the manner of conducting missionary work. 
Organizations, receiving the gifts of benevolent Christians, 
send and sustain the missionaries. The erection of buildings 
at the outset is possible. Open-air preaching is no longer a 
necessity in pioneer work. None the less do we find it used. 
Although at the present time foreign missionaries constitute a 
small proportion of the ordained ministry, they probably do more 
open-air preaching than all the rest of us combined. Perhaps 
the need of it is more apparent ; perhaps they are more free 
from restraint ; perhaps they are more earnest and intense. At 
any rate, they are leaders in this direction. 

A missionary, having committed to him the spiritual wel- 
fare of many hundred, cannot give to each the personal super- 
vision, the weekly instruction possible with the pastor of a few- 
hundred. Still he feels the necessity of doing something to 
present and keep before them Christ. To accomplish this the 
system of touring or itineration is employed, and this is simply 
open-air preaching on a large scale. It is thus described by a 
missionary : " One or more missionaries and a few native assist- 
ants make their preparation to leave home and spend several 
consecutive weeks, or months, it may be, in itinerating the dis- 
trict. Tents, provisions, and books for distribution are sent in 
advance. A favorable spot is chosen as a center, and the camp 
is established in the shade, if it can be found, of some um- 
brageous grove. Every morning before the dawn lightens the 
east the missionaries, with their native attendants, sally forth ; 



20 

and, leaving the nearer villages for evening work, go out to a 
distance of three or four miles from the encampment. Here 
they separate into couples, composed usually of one missionary 
and one catechist. Each party enters a village, and, a favorable 
position having been secured, a passage of Scripture is read, or 
a lyric in the vernacular is sung in a loud tone, with a view of 
collecting the inhabitants. In general, the visitors are almost 
immediately environed by a crowd of dusky auditors, who ordi- 
narily listen with respectful attention to the message of truth. 
Opportunity is given for asking questions, and amicable discus- 
sion is not discouraged. At the close of the interview books 
and tracts are distributed among those who can read ; and the 
visitors, after inviting the people to seek further instruction at 
their tent, pass on to another street, or to a neighboring village, 
where the same process is repeated. When the circle is com- 
pleted, and every inhabited spot within its circumference has 
heard the voice of the preacher, the tents are moved to a new 
locality. By this plan, systematically and perseveringly fol- 
lowed up year after year, the entire district, large as it is, has 
been toured over repeatedly, until, it is safe to say, there is no 
town or village in it which has not become more or less familiar 
with the teachings of Christianity. Three millions of people 
have by this agency been brought within Gospel influences." 

This kind of open-air preaching, though necessarily super- 
ficial, secures important results. It gives the people at large 
a conception of Christianity, which, though crude and imper- 
fect, approximates to the truth. All who have been in mission 
lands know that the enemies of Christianity spread abroad hor- 
rible stories about the lives and teachings of the missionaries. 
If the natives believe one-half of what is said, it is no wonder 
that they call them "white devils," and shun their houses and 
chapels. In these free open-air gatherings they feel reasonably 
safe, and curiosity is able to overcome their fear. Thus they 
hear what is said by the missionaries themselves, and have for 
their thoughts and conversation some idea of the beauty of our 
faith. The missionary quoted above also says : " It is the 
simple proclamation of the Gospel that has diffused a knowl- 
edge of Christ and his religion throughout large sections. To 
hundreds of thousands of their inhabitants Christianity is no 
longer a thing new and strange, but a common and familiar 



21 

topic of talk and discussion. The missionary is not so often as 
formerly met with a stare of blank amazement or idle curiosity. 
Intelligent questions about the leading doctrines of the Gospel 
prove that his message has been pondered and canvassed by 
thinking minds. Confidence in pagan myths and hoary super- 
stitions is manifestly shaken." Thus is the field prepared for 
a more permanent and effective occupation. When, later, a 
missionary or a native catechist occupies such a village, when a 
school is started, a congregation sought, a chapel erected, oppo- 
sition has largely spent itself, prejudice has been removed, and 
possibly some sympathy created. Says a missionary of the 
American Madura Mission : "These journeys have opened up 
the waste places of the field, and assisted materially in the ex- 
tension of our work in the villages. Scarcely a year goes by 
in which congregations are not organized through these efforts, 
and frequently individuals are found who date their interest in 
Christianity from these visits." 

Another missionary relates this illustration of that very 
thing: ''The first preaching tour I ever took in the Ellore 
district was signalized by showing me an open door, with which 
all subsequent increase was connected. I was preaching in a 
village twenty miles from Ellore to a group of weavers, and on 
the outskirts stood listening a little boy, not more than ten 
years old, whose heart the Lord opened to attend to the mes- 
sage, then heard for the first time. He was instantly con- 
vinced and sought opportunity to join me and make known his 
wishes, but he was foiled on that occasion. Six months after- 
wards I again approached the place, and then the boy insisted 
on his father going with him to my tent. A connection was 
then formed, which led to a large ingathering of souls." Con- 
versions occasionally occur as a direct result of these open-air 
services ; the way is prepared for larger and more permanent 
effort; but their greatest value, perhaps, lies in indicating the 
field ripe for the harvest, and the strategic points for occupa- 
tion. Blindly to plant stations, erect buildings, would result 
often in a waste of time, strength, and money. These tours are 
guides in the future development of the work and save many a 
fruitless and discouraging experiment. 

The missionaries, however, by no means limit their open-air 
preaching to touring. In the vicinity of their established 



23 

stations they constantly make shorter excursions, preaching in a 
place, not once a year, but frequently and regularly. Their 
coming is expected. The same persons are seen often in 
the audience. Impressions can be deepened ; truths can be 
clinched ; interest fostered and results gathered. This work is 
more satisfactory in that the harvest is more apparent and 
sooner ripe. 

Open-air preaching is also sustained in the villages and cities 
where the work has been well established and is equipped with 
buildings. Here the circumstances are more like those in 
Christian lands. Still the missionaries reach out after the 
people. They go to them, because they can reach a class 
of hearers who would not be met in any other way. They 
come into personal contact with all classes and awaken an 
interest in the Gospel. The method and spirit of their work is 
well illustrated by the following account: "We have selected 
about a dozen places in different parts of the town, where a 
congregation can be secured without collecting a mob, and these 
we visit in regular order. We go out two and two. Hearers 
are easily obtained by singing a lyric, or reading a portion of 
Scripture, of which the Book of Proverbs catches the ear of the 
people soonest. The congregation is made up of those passing 
at the time and a few who come from the neighboring houses. 
Side by side are the Hindu and Mussulman, the scavenger and 
the merchant, the official arrested on his way to office, and the 
Brahmin on his way to his morning ablutions — a motley throng 
and one difficult to please. After preaching, hand-bills are dis- 
tributed in the immediate neighborhood, and with these, as 
occasion offers, a few kind and serious words are said. There 
is another way, and one, perhaps, more in keeping with the 
habits of the people — to sit down with a small company in a 
veranda, or under a spreading banyan tree, and there in peace 
and quietness to discourse on sacred things. 

"There is for me something very touching and impressive in 
the sight of a crowd of Hindus, gathered in the streets of their 
own city and under the shadow of their ancient temples to hear 
a white-faced stranger from another continent speak to them of 
the Great Father from whom they have hopelessly wandered. I 
can never look such a concourse in the face without emotion. 
I almost feel that some apology is necessary. ' Friends,' I say, 



24 

* I come by command of the Almighty, to tell you something 
new — to tell you of One who died for His enemies. In 
your Shastras it is said that the gods have visited the earth at 
different times : one, as when the sea was churned in quest of 
the lost nectar, to help their friends ; again, as Rama, the hero 
of the solar line, to destroy the wicked ; and many times to 
tamper with the virtue of the good ; but never one to save their 
foes ; never to help man, crouching like an over-burdened beast 
under the load of his iniquities. But God commendeth His 
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died 
for us.' 'Yes,' they say, 'that is something new.' And this 
opens the way for speaking of man's sinfulness and Christ's 
willingness and ability to save." 

So great value is put on this work that the missionaries not 
only take their native helpers with them, but also train them to 
go out alone and conduct open-air services. Though the natives 
have not the assistance in securing an audience of that curiosity 
always aroused by a foreigner, they do succeed. 




AT TAROKESHOR, INDIA. 



In the report of the Marathi Mission, India, sent me by the 
Rev. Henry Fairbank, I find the following interesting account 



25 

of a tour by thirteen native Christians, They went to a village 
where was being held a fair in honor of the god Khandoba, at 
which 50,000 people were present. '' The principal ceremonies 
are those connected with the marriage of young girls to the god 
Khandoba, thus, in the name of religion, devoting them to lives 
of public prostitution. Many parents bring their young and 
innocent daughters and present them as offerings to the vile 
gods. One of our preachers, in describing what they saw, says : 
*The scene of credulous worshipers offering their daughters to 
the god Khandoba for immoral purposes, the throwing lavishly 
on the god of cocoanut kernels and tumeric powder, the licen- 
tious acts of the young people in connection with the ''merry- 
go-round," the obscene songs of the worshipers, the loud 
discordant tones of different religious mendicants, the tinkling 
of cymbals, the pickpockets going about in the crowd to carry 
out their wicked designs, the jabbering of persons intoxicated, 
the shrill sounds of various kinds of drums and other musical 
instruments, and the excited talking of many shop-keepers and 
their customers, all these things made the place look like the 
stronghold of Satan.' On witnessing such scenes, the spirits 
of our preachers were stirred within them, and with earnest 
prayer for God's help and direction they commenced singing a 
Christian hymn. Immediately a great crowd gathered around 
them, and listened in perfect silence while they preached to them 
the words of life. Speaking in turn they continued until all 
were weary, but even then the people were unwilling to let 
them go. They spoke plainly in regard to the abominations 
which were going on near by, but all assented to the truth, and 
no one objected to their plain speaking. Thus it was every 
time our preachers appeared during the three days of their stay. 
They were surrounded by large numbers of people, who seemed 
to be thirsting for the truth, and who eagerly drank in every 
word. Some also followed the Christians to their tent and were 
further instructed and prayed with there." 

Open-air preaching certainly has played a prominent part in 
the extension of the Church. It is the easiest and most effec- 
tive way of pushing Christianity into new territory. Without 
it missionary work would be crippled, and all advance would 
be slow and uncertain. It ever has been the speediest method 
of reaching those outside the influence of the Church. 




(26) 



ONE OF WICLIF'S POOR PRIESTS. 



OPEN-AIR PREACHING 

IN THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH. 



Ever since the establishment of the Church there have been 
men protesting against the error, corruption, or coldness which 
from time to time have crept into it. They have all been intense 
and determined men bent on a purpose and caring little where 
they preached if only the desired end was attained. It is not 
surprising, therefore, to find most of them open-air preachers. 

In the Dark Ages preaching had disappeared largely from the 
religious services. The ritual culminating in the mass occupied 
most of the time and attention. Neither was the service in the 
vernacular. Then there arose men who commenced to preach, 
using the language of the people. They were the forerunners 
of the Reformation, preaching repentance, and attacking corrupt 
practices rather than false beliefs. They demanded that 
people, priests, and pope should repent, should " cease to do 
evil, learn to do well." Their preaching was done in the open 
air; as the church was not considered the place for preaching, 
but for the mass, and its language must be Latin, not the com- 
mon speech. The only proper places for the profane work of 
preaching in the vernacular were outside of consecrated build- 
ings. 

Many of these men appeared independently in different 
places during the twelfth century. Among them was Peter of 
Bruys, an intense, narrow fanatic. He recognized deep-seated 
evils in the Church, and against these he hurled his protests, fear- 
lessly denouncing them in street and market-place. He said, 
'* God may be worshiped just as well in the shop or in the 
market-place as in the church. God hears wherever He is 
called upon, and listens to the worthy suppliant whether he 
prays before an altar or in a stall." In his zeal he failed to dis- 
tinguish between the good and the evil. The religion taught 
and practiced at that time by the Church consisted of devotion 
to things seen rather than to things unseen. That he knew 
was wrong, and therefore he attacked whatever was visible in 

(27) 



28 

religious life, even condemning church buildings, some of which 
were destroyed through his influence. He was as intolerant of 
indoor services as some are to-day of outdoor services. Going 
from place to place, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes driven by 
persecution, he preached wherever an audience would gather, ex- 
alting the Bible, and especially the four gospels, and demanding 
a discontinuance of the formal and corrupt practices of the 
Church. 

Perhaps associated with Peter of Bruys, certainly following 
him closely, came the monk Henry of Clugny. Not so hereti- 
cal, nor so fanatical and narrow, but as intense and fearless, he 
left his monastery to preach repentance. Clad in the dress of a 
monk, barefooted, and bearing a cross in his hand, he pro- 
claimed his message with great fervor and eloquence, demand- 
ing that priests and people alike should forsake their sinful 
ways. His attacks on the corruptions of the Church created 
great excitement, and were received with enthusiasm. Wherever 
he went he made a deep impression, and ecclesiastics opposed 
him in vain. The people deserted the churches and flocked to 
him. "The churches are without people," it was reported to 
the Pope, " the people without priests, the priests without the 
reverence due them, and Christians without Christ. The 
voice of a single heretic silences all." He was twice im- 
prisoned, the last time being condemned to imprisonment for 
life. 

About the same ,time came Arnold, pupil of Abelard, but 
possessed of a stronger character than his master. '' In the 
garb of a monk and with a countenance which bespoke his 
decision and capacity, but which had already become marked 
with many cares, Arnold commenced his stormy career as a 
preacher in the streets of Brescia." Great was the impression 
made and the opposition aroused. Banishment resulted. But 
he could not be stopped. At Paris and afterward at Rome he 
thundered away at the evils within the Church of Christ. 
Attributing them all to the possession of wealth by the clergy 
and of temporal power by the Church, he demanded a return 
to Apostolic poverty, and a devotion to strictly spiritual work. 
At the close his preaching assumed a political aspect, but it had 
the same end in view. Certainly a street preacher at the gates 
of the Vatican denouncing the temporal power of the Pope is a 



29 

dramatic figure. Neander says, " It was long since the voice 
of freedom had echoed among the seven hills, and her authority 
in the present instance was precarious and of short duration." 
Arnold soon exchanged the open air for the prison, and was 
finally put to death. 

Of all the open-air preachers of this century the most at- 
tractive in their character and lives and the most influential in 
their preaching, were the Poor Men of Lyons. Peter Waldo, 
a rich merchant, startled by the sudden death of a companion, 
changed the entire course of his life. He gave his wife part of 
his wealth for her support, provided for his daughters, and then 
distributed all the remainder to the hungry poor. Becoming 
interested in the Bible, he devoted much time to its study. 
He gathered others about him, and from the study of the Bible 
they turned easily and naturally to its exposition, and became 
street preachers. They attracted attention and then opposition, 
and finally were silenced. Peter Waldo appealed to the Pope, 
declaring they did not wish to preach, but simply to read and 
expound the Scriptures in public places. Permission was 
granted, subject to the approval of the ecclesiastic in whose 
territory they wished to labor. This was practically a 
refusal. They at last broke away from the Church, denied her 
right to forbid them, and two by two, in plain dress and with 
evidence of their poverty, they scattered in every direction. 
Their sincerity was apparent, their zeal unbounded, their devo- 
tion to the Scripture complete. They were not crushed easily 
and speedily, and their influence was wide and permanent. 
They almost brought the Reformation, and would have succeeded 
had not Rome sent forth her own open-air preachers, who 
overcame their influence by opposing them before the people 
in the street and market-place, and by attacking, in the name 
of the Church, some of the evils denounced by Peter, Henry, 
Waldo, and their followers. 

These preaching friars, being under the direct control of 
Rome, were not reformers, nor were they at all in the line of 
the subsequent Reformation ; but they were revivalists. The 
leaders were generally consecrated and spiritually minded, 
sincere, and zealous, striving to live holy lives, and urging 
others to do the same. Their immediate followers caught their 
spirit and enthusiasm, but existing corruptions soon entered 



30 

their ranks and destroyed their earnestness and spiritual power. 
Many might be named. There was Robert, founder of the 
Cistercian order of monks, who received from Pope Urban II 
permission to preach everywhere. As he traveled from town 
to town and from province to province, he did not regard his 
permission as limited to churches, and preached on the high- 
ways and in the forests. Norbert, founder of the order of 
Premonstrants, received a similar privilege and used it for the 
same purpose. " With naked feet and clad in his sheepskins, 
Norbert proceeded even in the depths of winter, when snow 
reached his knees, to travel from town to town, from hamlet to 
hamlet, preaching repentance as he passed along." 

In the thirteenth century came St. Francis, among the 
heathen a missionary, among the Christians a revivalist, among 
the monks a reformer. He commenced his religious work 
preaching in the streets of Assisi, where he gathered about him 
a band of young men, the nucleus of his future powerful order. 
He always was an open-air preacher. Mrs. Oliphant, in her 
life of St. Francis, gives a charming little incident from the life 
of this austere and fearless preacher. '' On another occasion 
when he was preaching in the town of Alva, the swallows, with 
their perpetual twittering, incommoded the audience. Francis 
had gone up to a high piece of ground that he might be seen of all, 
and had asked silence of the assembled people. But the birds 
were flitting about in airy circles, making their nests, chirping, 
and calling to each other overhead in the blue heavens of the 
Italian sky. When it became apparent that these sweet dis- 
turbers of the peace prevented their human companions from 
hearing the word of God, the preacher turned and courteously 
saluted the little nest builders : ' My sisters, it is now time 
that I should speak. Since you have have had your say, listen 
now in your turn to the word of God, and be silent till the 
sermon is finished.' " 

Of St. Dominic it is said that he preached to whatever peo- 
ple he met and could gather about him as he journeyed along 
the highway. The followers of these two great leaders were 
not slow in following the example given them. Vast numbers 
in the two orders have been street preachers. Some obscure, 
of limited talents and opportunities, preached to little groups 
scattered here and there in the villages ; others, like Bethold 



31 

and Anthony and Bernard, eloquent and popular, spoke to 
immense audiences numbered by the thousands. The Domini- 
cans were more conservative than the Franciscans, who preached 
anywhere and everywhere ; and we find one of the former, 
Hubert de Romanis, objecting to preaching at fairs, on account 
of the noise and confusion, but advocating its use in the fields 
and church-yards. 

Whatever we may think of its accuracy, the following state- 
ment by a Roman Catholic writer is suggestive : " He is not a 
very profound student of history who does not know that 
Christian society was saved from falling into Lutherism by 
Pope Gregory the Ninth sending the Dominican and Francis- 
can preachers to tramp around the cities and villages of Europe, 
with hearty encouragements to preach wherever they could, 
and with his full permission to set up an altar and say mass out 
of doors, indoors, by the roadside, under the trees, in a word, 
anywhere, if by such means they could readily assemble a crowd 
of people and preach to them." Whether their influence was 
for good or for evil, the open-air preachers sent forth by the 
Romish Church for several centuries certainly were a tremen- 
dous power. 

The natural result of all this preaching in the open air was 
its re-intfoduction into the regular ministrations of the Church. 
From occasional sermons by bishops it spread to frequent dis- 
courses by the priests. It is true these were often superficial 
and silly as well as erroneous in their teachings, but they 
opened the way for the work of the Reformation. At first 
much of the preaching was done from pulpits erected in the 
church-yards, but gradually the church edifice was used more 
and more for this purpose. 

Though the reformers of the fourteenth and later centuries 
preached from indoor pulpits, they by no means discarded work 
in the open air. Wiclif, realizing the value of popular preach- 
ing, sent forth two by two his "poor priests." Later in his 
work he took laymen as well as priests, and, having trained 
them, sent them to preach to the people. These men, dressed 
in long coarse red garments, barefooted, with staff in hand, 
went from village to village, preaching repentance and faith. 
It was their custom to read from Wiclif's translation of the 
Bible and then to expound its meaning. So great was the im- 



32 

pression made and the opposition aroused that an act of Parlia- 
ment in 1382 expressed the complaint of the clergy that per- 
sons in frieze gowns, without licenses, were going from place 
to place, preaching not only in the churches, but also in church- 
yards, at market-places, and fairs. Not only were they in favor 
with the people who flocked to hear them, but the soldiers ming- 
ling with the crowd stood armed ready to defend them from all 
assaults. The value placed by Wiclif himself on the work 
done by these open-air preachers is shown by what he wrote 
for their guidance and in their defense. 

We find open-air preaching practised by others whom he in- 
fluenced, notably Huss in Bohemia. For years he had preached 
in Bethlehem church, where he enjoyed great freedom. In 
1412 his enemies succeeded in dislodging him, and at the king's 
request he left the city. But he was not to be suppressed thus, 
and commenced preaching in the open air wherever he went. 
He thus speaks in defense of his action : *' The command that 
forbids me to preach is opposed to the word and example of 
both Christ and His apostles. Christ preached to the people on 
the sea, in the desert, in the open field, in houses, in synagogues, 
in villages, in the streets ; and the apostles preached every- 
where, the Lord helping them. The command, moreover, is op- 
posed to the interests of the Church in forbidding the word to 
have free course." Immense congregations gathered about 
him wherever he appeared, and the Gospel for a season did have 
free course. How much he thus accomplished is shown by 
these words from one of his biographers : " The impression 
made was in many cases deep and abiding. Years did not 
efface it. When Huss afterward was enclosed by prison walls in 
the city of Constance, there were thousands of his Bohemian 
countrymen, far distant from Prague, on whose hearts his 
memory was deeply engraven by the experience wrought within 
them through the words that were uttered now." 

When the Reformation at last burst the barriers which had 
so long restrained it and swept over North Western Europe, it was 
carried along by the enthusiasm of open-air preaching. Luther 
did his work mainly with the pen and before diets and dignitaries, 
but he did not hesitate to use this means also. At Zwickau he 
preached to 25,000 people gathered in the market-place and 
showed his power by deeply impressing the audience, though- 



33 

disturbed by the shrieks of a crazy woman. His followers went 
everywhere, proclaiming the truth. D'Aubigne says, " If not 
permitted to preach in the church, the preaching took place 
elsewhere, and every place became a temple. At Husum, in 
Holstein, Herman Tast, then on his way from Wittenberg, and 
to whom the parochial clergy denied the use of the church, 
preached to an immense multitude under the shade of two large 
trees adjoining the church-yard, not far from the spot where 
seven centuries before Anschar had first proclaimed the Gospel to 
a heathen auditory. At Armstadt Gaspard Gittel, an Augustine 
friar, preached in the market-place. At Dantzic the Gospel 
was proclaimed from an eminence outside the city. At Gosslar 
a student of Wittenberg opened the new doctrines, in a plain 
planted with lime trees, from which circumstance the evangelical 
Christians there obtained the appellation of the Lhne-tree 
Brethren^ I do not know a more vivid account of the persist- 
ent desire of both preachers and people for the proclamation of 
Gospel than this simple account by the same writer of what oc- 
curred at Worms : "■ The imperial decree overawed the magis- 
trates ; the churches were all closed ; but a preacher, taking his 
stand on a rudely constructed pulpit in a square thronged with 
an immense multitude, proclaimed the glad tidings with per- 
suasive earnestness. If the authorities showed a disposition to 
interfere, the people dispersed in an instant, hastily carrying off 
their pulpit ; but no sooner had the officers of authority passed 
by than they again erected their pulpit in some more retired 
spot, to which the multitude would again flock together. This 
temporary pulpit was every day set up in one spot or another, 
and served as a rallying point for the people." 

In the Netherlands field preaching played a prominent part 
in the spread of the Reformation. In 1562 there had been some 
public preaching near Ypres, but that was speedily suppressed. 
In 1566, however, the eagerness for the truth could not be 
restrained and manifested itself in huge gatherings in the fields 
to listen to the preaching. The audiences which assembled in- 
cluded all classes of people. "The gentry of the place, the 
rich merchants, the notables as well as the humbler artisans and 
laborers, all had received the infection." Some came on foot; 
others were on horseback. Many were armed to resist if there 
should be any opposition. Although Margaret had offered a re- 

3 



34 

ward of seven hundred crowns to the man who would bring her 
a preacher alive or dead, men of all classes were ready to preach 
the unsearchable riches of Christ. Monks, like Modet and 
Peter Dalthenus, who had renounced their vows, took the lead. 
Theologians, like Francis Junius, joined in the field work. 
There were men of high rank like " Peregrine de la Grange, of 
a noble family in Provence, with the fiery blood of Southern 
France in his veins, brave as his nation, learned, eloquent, 
enthusiastic, who galloped to his field preaching on horseback, 
and fired a pistol shot as a signal for his congregation to give 
attention. To the ineffable disgust of the conservatives in 
Church and state, there were men of little education, utterly 
devoid of Hebrew, of lowly station, hatters, curriers, tanners, 
dyers, and the like, who began to preach also." 

Motley, in his "Dutch Republic," from which the above is 
quoted, tells of meetings held at a bridge near Tournay, 
where 6,000 people assembled June 28, 1566, at eleven o'clock 
at night. Two days later 10,000 came together to hear the 
preaching ; and a week later the congregation numbered 20,000. 
At the hours of these open-air services Tournay was literally 
emptied of its inhabitants. The streets were as silent as if 
war or pestilence had swept the place. Motley continues thus : 
*' Throughout Flanders similar scenes were enacted. Thus the 
preaching spread throughout the Walloon provinces to the 
Northern Netherlands. Toward the end of July an apostate 
monk of singular eloquence, Peter Gabriel, was announced to 
preach at Overeen near Haarlem. This was the first field 
preaching which had taken place in Holland. The people were 
wild with enthusiasm, the authorities beside themselves with 
apprehension. People from the country flocked into town by 
thousands. The services commenced with the singing of a 
psalm by the whole assemblage. No anthem from the world- 
renowned organ in that ancient city ever awakened more lofty 
emotions than did those ten thousand human voices ringing 
from the grassy meadows in that fervid mid-summer noon. 
When all was silent again, the preacher rose, a little meager 
man, who looked as if he might rather melt away beneath the 
blazing sunshine of July, than hold the multitudes enchained by 
the magic of his tongue. His text was verses 8, 9, and 10 of 
the second chapter of Ephesians ; and, as the slender monk 



35 

spoke to his simple audience of God's grace and of faith in 
Jesus, who had descended from above to serve the lowliest and 
the most abandoned, if they would put their trust in Him, his 
hearers were alternately exalted with fervor or melted into 
tears. At times, according to one who was present, not a dry 
eye was to be seen in the crowd." 

So it was wherever the Reformation spread. Most interest- 
ing accounts might be given of Farel preaching in the secluded 
meadows and wooded ravines of that Alpine region where he 
had rambled when a boy ; of Wishart preaching at Mauchline 
in Scotland from a ditch-dike, and at Dundee, when the plague 
raged there, standing at the city gate, the infected persons 
on one side and those that were whole on the other ; of young 
John Livingstone who preached in the church-yard, so that 
" not less than 500 of his hearers found Christ, though it rained 
in torrents during a considerable part of the time " ; of John 
Welsh who gathered his congregations by the river Tweed, be- 
tween England and Scotland, that he might escape if sought by 
the authorities of either ; of John Bunyan and hosts of others 
who preached in the open air. All are familiar with the thrill- 
ing accounts of the meetings held by the Scotch covenanters in 
the depths of the forests, in the fastnesses of the mountains, 
often by night, which kept alive the fire of the pure faith that 
Popery so eagerly and relentlessly sought to extinguish. But I 
must omit these and multitudes of accounts of other interesting 
open-air services held in those days of self-sacrificing loyalty to 
truth and righteousness. 

As time passed, the ardor of the Reformation diminished, 
coldness entered the Church, and the use of open-air preaching 
gradually grew less and less ; but in the eighteenth century it 
again sprang into prominence and importance in the time of the 
revival of which Methodism was born. " It was by field preach- 
ing and in no other possible way," remarks a thoughtful critic, 
''that England could be roused from its spiritual slumber, or 
Methodism spread over the country and rooted where it spread." 
''The men who commenced and achieved this arduous ser- 
vice — and they were scholars and gentlemen — displayed a 
courage far surpassing that which carries the soldier through 
the hailstorm of the battlefield. Ten thousand might more 
easily be found who would confront a battery, than two with 



37 

the sensitiveness of education about them, could mount a table 
by the roadside, give out a psalm, and gather a mob." Wesley 
was not a rough, rude radical, but a sensitive, reverent man. 
He says in his diary, '' I could scarce reconcile myself at first to 
this strange way of preaching in the fields, having been all my life 
till very lately so tenacious of every point relating to decency 
and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost 
a sin, if it had not been done in a church." In reaUty, Wesley 
followed Whitefield in taking up open-air preaching, who in 
turn may have been influenced by the leaders of the revival in 
Wales, both clergymen and laymen having commenced to 
practice it. 

Whitefield had been refused access to the churches, and 
desiring to preach to the rough colliers of Kingswood deter- 
mined to address them in the open air. His first audience 
•consisted of 200 colliers to whom he spoke from Matt. v. i, 2, 
and 3, — a most pertinent text, as he had taken his stand on 
Hannan Mount. In his diary are these words written after this 
service : '' Blessed be God, the ice is now broke and I have now 
taken the field. Some may censure me, but is there not cause ? 
Pulpits are denied, and the poor colliers ready to perish for lack 
of knowledge." At his next service 2,000 were present. The 
numbers continued to increase until as many as 20,000 were 
reported as present at one time. Whitefield deeply moved his 
rough auditors, upon whose blackened cheeks the falling tears 
marked their path. 

Here it was that Wesley came to Whitefield and went with 
him one Sunday to these services. On Monday morning White- 
field started for London, and that afternoon Wesley commenced. 
He says he made himself more vile than he had been on the 
preceding day, by preaching on the highway. The next Sunday 
he determinedly entered upon the work of open-air preaching. 

Whitefield went on his way to London, preaching at differ- 
ent places, including Stonehouse, where three thousand people 
stood during the entire service outdoors, though it rained the 
whole time. At London some of his friends feared he would do 
the same thing there. He says, " We knelt down and prayed 
that nothing might be done rashly." It soon became a necessity, 
and then commenced those most remarkable open-air services at 
Moorfields and Kennington Common, the former reaching the 



38 

roughest element in London, and the latter attracting the 
higher grades of society. In each place the audiences num- 
bered thousands, and the spiritual results were far-reaching and 
permanent. 

When Whitefield returned to America he continued work- 
ing in the same way. Ten thousand persons stood for an hour 
and a half during his farewell sermon on leaving Philadelphia 
Franklin's newspaper contained this account of what followed:: 
*' On Thursday last the Rev. Mr. Whitefield left this city and 
was accompanied to Chester by about 150 horse, and preached 
to about 7,000 people. On Friday he preached at Willings 
Town to about 5,000 ; on Saturday at Newcastle to about 2,500; 
and the same evening at Christiana Bridge to about 3,000. 
On Sunday at White Clay Creek he preached twice, resting 
about half an hour between the sermons, to about 8,000, of 
whom 3,000, it is computed, came on horseback. It rained 
most of the time, and yet they stood in the open air." 

Wesley, once launched in this work in England, and recog- 
nizing its necessity and value, pressed forward vigorously. One 
of the most interesting services he ever held was in the home of 
his youth at Epworth. He offered to assist in the service of the 
parish church where his father had labored so many years, but 
his proffers were declined. As the people came from the 
church in the afternoon, John Taylor stood at the door and 
announced that as the church had been refused Wesley would 
preach in the church-yard that evening at six o'clock. A large 
audience assembled. Wesley preached standing on his father's 
tomb. His text was, " The Kingdom of God is not meat and 
drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. "^ 
It must have been a strange sight, a son standing on his 
father's tomb and preaching there the words of eternal life be- 
cause refused admission to his father's church. He says of this 
time, " I am well assured that I did far more good to my Lincoln- 
shire parishoners by preaching three days on my father's tomb, 
than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit." {See page 71.) 

Another interesting service, described in all the lives of 
Wesley, was held at Bath, where Beau Nash, a gambler, called 
" King of Bath," possessed almost absolute authority. While 
Wesley was preaching, Nash came along, and making his way 
through the crowd, asked the preacher by what authority he did 



39 

these things. " By the authority of Jesus Christ." " This is 
contrary to Act of Parliament ; this is a conventicle," rejoined 
Nash. "Sir," said Wesley, " the conventicles mentioned in 
that act are seditious meetings, but this is not such ; here is no 
shadow of sedition ; therefore, it is not contrary to that act." 
" I say it is," retorted Nash, " and besides your preaching 
frightens people out of their wits." " Sir," said Wesley, " did 
you ever hear me preach.'*" "No." "How then can you 
judge of what you never heard ? " " Sir, by common report," 
was the answer. " Common report is not enough," replied 
Wesley ; " give me leave, sir, to ask, is not your name 
Nash .? " " My name is Nash." " Sir, I dare not judge of you by 
common report," was Wesley's keen answer. The disturber 
was taken back by this attack, and, finding popular feeling 
against him, soon withdrew. 

Wesley, however, did not always rid himself so quickly of 
his opponents, who often broke up the meetings. Sometimes 
the mob, sometimes the authorities attacked him. He often re- 
ceived treatment similar to that which befell his followers, and 
which is thus described : "A string of pack horses is so driven 
as to break up a congregation, and a fire engine is brought out 
and played over the throng to achieve the same purpose. Hand- 
bells, old kettles, marrow bones and cleavers, trumpets, drums, 
and entire bands of music, were engaged to drown the preach- 
ers' voices. In one case the parish bull was let loose, and in 
others, dogs were set to fight. The preachers needed to have 
faces set like flints, and so, indeed, they had." Protection was 
not secured by the authorities, nor justice given in the courts. 
The press and the pulpit sent forth fierce and bitter attacks. 
Dr. Trapp preached four sermons against Wesley and his 
followers, in which he says : " For a clergyman of the Church 
of England to pray and preach in the fields in the country or 
in the streets of the city, is perfectly new. I am ashamed 
to speak upon a subject which is a reproach not only to our 
Church and country, but to human nature itself. Can it pro- 
mote the Christian religion to turn it into riot, tumult, and 
confusion ? to make it ridiculous and contemptible, and expose 
it to the scorn and scoffs of infidels and atheists ? Go not 
after these imposters and seducers, but shun them as you 
would the plague." He calls them hypocrites, enthusiasts, 



40 

novelists, ignis fatui, glaring meteors, in the bonds of iniquity, 
in the gall of bitterness. "They met," says a writer, "the 
opposition of vulgar mobs, fiery priests, lampooning pamphleteers, 
unjust magistrates and grand juries." But Wesley persevered 
in this kind of work during all his life, and a short time before 
his death, when S'j years of age, he preached at Winchelsea 
in the open air under an ash known afterwards as "Wesley's 
Tree." 

Spurgeon thus estimates the open-air preaching of this 
period : " Glorious were those great gatherings in fields and 
commons which lasted throughout the long period in which m 

Wesley and Whitefield blessed our nation. Field preaching f| 
was the wild note of the birds singing in the trees, in testimony 
that the true spring-time of religion had come. Birds in cages 
may sing more sweetly, perhaps, but their music is not so nat- 
ural, nor so sure a pledge of the coming summer. It was a 
blessed day when Methodists and others began to proclaim 
Jesus in the open air ; then were the gates of hell shaken, and 
the captives of the devil set free by hundreds and thousands." 

These few selections from many possible, make it evident, 
that without open-air preaching, some movements of world-wide 
spiritual influence in the reformation of the Church would have 
been smothered in their infancy, many would have been simply 
local in their sphere, and all would have failed to secure the 
results actually attained ; and that it has been par excellence the 
reformer's method of winning the masses to his cause. 



OPEN-AIR PREACHING 

IN THE NORMAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH. 



To Christians generally the most interesting and practical 
question is concerning the place of open-air preaching in the 
normal life of the Church in Protestant lands. Its effectiveness 
during the critical periods of the past, and in heathen lands to- 
day, may compel respect without convincing us that it possesses 
any value for us. 

The past supplies many instances where open-air preaching 
has played a prominent part in the normal life of individual local 
churches. Careful consideration might well be given to the 
work done during the present century in different countries ; in 
Australia, in Canada, in the United States, where have labored 
Peter Cartwright, "the backwoods preacher," and Bishop 
Taylor, street preacher for forty years, and other such men ; 
and where camp-meetings have entered so largely into the life 
of the Methodist denomination ; and in Holland, where this 
strong testimony was given by a burgomaster of the Hague: 
"One good street preacher is worth ten policemen." But 
a close study of the work in one land at one period will throw 
more light on the subject than any number of miscellaneous 
selections. I therefore shall omit all mention of the open-air 
preaching which is being done elsewhere, and devote this chap- 
ter entirely to a description of the extent, form, and results of 
open-air preaching in Great Britain at the present time. 

My investigations have been as complete as I could make 
them. I visited the leading cities throughout the kingdom, 
attended sixty to, seventy open-air meetings, each in a differ- 
ent locality, and each conducted after his own fashion by a 
different leader. I sought the opinion of prominent men, of 
those in the rank and file of Christian workers, and of outsiders ; 
questioning them concerning their estimate of its value, and 
their methods if they practiced it themselves. Through the 
kindness of Mr. Kirkham of the Open-Air Mission, I secured 
much literature, running back thirty-five years, and including in- 
cidents, methods, and results from every part of Great Britain. 

(41) 



42 

I found that preaching in the open air was practised 
constantly by the Salvation Army, whose members seldom hold 
an evangelistic service without an out-door service first. Their 
efforts force themselves upon the casual observer, as they march 
through the streets, singing and playing vigorously on musical 
instruments. Closer observation reveals, however, that the 
larger part of open-air preaching is not done by them. The 
army has simply adapted to its system practices already widely 
prevalent. Various denominations, organizations of laymen, and 
many independent workers approve and use it. 

The Church of England, for example, sustains many open- 
air preaching stations, concerning one of which the London 
Daily Telegraph of July 8, 1890, says : "Lord Radstock delivered 
an address in the churchyard of St. Botolph, Aldersgate street, 
between one and two o'clock yesterday, to upwards of 4,000 
business men. Open-air services have been carried on daily 
during the last two summers by the Rev. T. Selby Henrey. 
Among the speakers for this month will be the Bishop of Bed- 
ford, the Archdeacon of London, General Sir R. Phayre, Sir 
William Charley (Common Serjeant) and Lord Radstock 
(second time)." 

St. Mary's Church, Whitechapel, London, has an outdoor 
pulpit built in the wall, into which the clergyman enters from 
within and addresses those who gather in the churchyard or listen 
from the sidewalk. It was from a colored man, standing in this- 
pulpit and facing almost the very place where those horrible 
murders were committed, that I heard the most powerful dis- 
course on the immortality of the soul to which I ever listened. 
I was told that the rector of another church in that same dis- 
trict was accustomed, in conducting open-air services, to take 
with him on the street his choir-boys, the entire company 
dressed in their robes. 

In a conversation on this subject Canon Rycroft of Liver- 
pool said to me: "To show you how I stand, I need only say 
that a week ago, after my evening service in the church, I preached 
on the street to an audience of over 1,000, most of them men."' 
A few years ago various bishops expressed their opinions, the 
Bishop of Durham saying : " The movement for open-air 
preaching has my approval " ; the Bishop of Manchester : " We 
do what we can in this diocese as opportunity offers in that 




<43) 



OPEN-AIR PULPIT, ST. MARY'S, WHITECHAPEL. 



44 

way, and I myself am frequently addressing bodies of men in 
the open air, or at least in sheds or workshops " ; the Bishop of 
Litchfield : " I have always encouraged and always practiced 
open-air preaching;" the Bishop of Rochester, referring to the 
"Sermon Day" : "I heartily approve of the work of the Open- 
Air Mission, and wish God-speed to its useful operations. On 
the'^day you name I hope to be preaching in the open air myself 
to some navvies in the neighborhood." The "Sermon Day" 
mentioned was a Sabbath on which the clergymen of London 
and its suburbs were requested to present to their congregations 
the subject of open-air preaching. Many acceded to the re- 
quest, among them being fifty-two Baptist, forty-nine Congre- 
gational, thirty-five Methodist, and sixty-five Church of Eng- 
land clergymen. 

The Presbyterians also are aggressive along this line. 
Last year's report of the Evangelization Committee of the 
North and South Presbyteries of London contains the follow- 
ing: "The special feature of the year was the organizing of 
the open-air work, the result being that fully thirty places in 
London, besides several in connection with our country congre- 
gations, were regularly every Lord's Day during the summer 
months, occupied by ministers and members of our churches. 
In addition to these separate open-air services, there were 
four of a united character, namely, three at the beginning of 
summer in Regent's Park, Victoria Park, and Blackheath, and 
one at the close of summer in Regent's Park. Several minis- 
ters took part in each of these united services, and it is perhaps 
not too much to say that there never has been so large an open- 
air service in Regent's Park as that held on May 5, when the 
number attending was variously estimated at from 3,000 to 
4,000." 

Much might be said concerning the open-air work of the 
Salvation Army, "instant in season, out of season"; of the 
Baptists, so aggressive in city evangelization ; of the Congrega- 
tionalists, quick to adopt new methods for advancing the 
Master's kingdom ; of the Methodists, who perhaps lead all 
other denominations in out-door work; and of the Quakers, 
whom the Spirit, sometimes commanding silence within their 
halls of worship, drives forth to proclaim to the passing multi- 
tude the unsearchable riches of Christ. 



45 

Most profitable and inspiring would it be to consider the 
example of the leaders : of John McNeill, Scotland's sturdy son 
and London's famous preacher, to whose influence largely is 
due the increase of open-air preaching among the Presbyterians 
of the metropolis ; of Newman Hall, whose church sustains during 
the summer daily open-air services (he himself often participat- 
ing), and who by the special and most appropriate request of the 
Open-Air Mission has lectured on '' My Personal Recollections 
as an Open-Air Preacher," and " Successful Open-Air Preach- 
ing"; of Theodore Parker, who began his preaching in the open 
air; and of Spurgeon, who probably has more often addressed 
vast open-air audiences than any living man, and who, however 
much the subject may be neglected in other theological semi- 
naries, has for his students two rousing lectures on this topic. 
But limits of time and space forbid. Suffice it to say that the 
denominations of Great Britain, as represented by their clergy- 
men, have placed upon this way of preaching "the gospel to 
every creature " their seal of approval. 

But ministers, however favorably inclined, can do compara- 
tively little in this direction, for their time and strength are 
absorbed largely by their regular duties. The extent and effi- 
ciency of this movement, as of the Sunday-school, depends on 
the support it receives from laymen. Therefore their attitude, 
especially as shown in the undenominational organizations into 
which they have banded themselves, is of much importance. 
Take the Young Men's Christian Associations, for example. 
Almost all, if not all of them hold some of their meetings in 
the open air. At first this seemed to me outside their domain 
of "work for young men," but observation revealed that their 
audiences consisted mainly of men, and no branch of their work 
receives more justification in the opportunities offered of win- 
ning to Christ the young men of the great cities. 

The London City Mission, employing 500 lay missiona- 
ries, says, in the report of 1890 : "The committee are happy to 
report also that most of the society's missionaries hold open- 
air meetings in their respective districts, both on Sundays and 
week-days, and that these are the means of reaching many who 
cannot be pursuaded to attend even a mission-room. . . . 
By these services the Gospel has been carried during the past 
year into many a secluded court and alley, as well as proclaimed 



46 

to dense multitudes in open spaces, and many instances of con- 
version to God are related by the missionaries." 

Naturally, the most prominent in this direction is the Open- 
Air Mission, whose efficient Secretary is Mr. Gawin Kirkham, 
with headquarters in London. The object of this Mission, es- 
tablished in 1853, is to encourage, by means of publications 
and addresses, the judicious practice of open-air preaching, to 
bring together the workers for mutual instruction and encour- 
agement, and to undertake the visitation of fairs, races, and 
other gatherings of the people. According to their last annual 
report, the members of the Mission (laymen connected with 
it, pledged to practice and encourage open-air preaching, re- 
ceiving from the Mission no compensation,) numbered 1,089; 
special agents (paid for special work), 20 ; conferences of 
preachers, 33 ; races, fairs, etc., visited, 620; towns and villages 
to which speakers were sent, 521 ; books, tracts, and cards sent 
from the central office, 1,255,057 ; addresses by the secretary, 
325. This organization has had a vast influence, not only 
through what its members have accomplished in winning wan- 
derers to Christ, but also indirectly in stimulating others to sim- 
ilar efforts, in discouraging unwise methods, and in giving char- 
acter to the whole movement. 

The Manchester City Mission, the Liverpool Town Mission, 
the Christian Evidence Society, the Christian Community, and 
many other organizations like them, would form interesting 
and profitable studies in this connection because of their con- 
stant use of this agency. 

Besides denominations and societies of laymen, almost all 
independent missions and many individuals, alone or in company 
with others, push out along this line — such as George Holland 
•of the George Yard Mission, Whitechapel, Charles Cook of 
Hyde Park Hall, Miss McPherson of the Bethnal Green Home of 
Industry, Captain Hamilton, active at Great Assembly Hall, 
F. N. Charrington, the founder of that institution, and H. Grat- 
tan Guiness, often accompanied by his students. 

These organizations and individuals in London are presented 
not as an exhaustive list of the favorably inclined, but simply 
as examples which might be duplicated many times, not only in 
that city, but also in many others. 

As there is honest disagreement among Christians con- 



47 

cerning certain expressions of belief, forms of worship, and 
methods of work, so undoubtedly there is concerning this. 
Many disapprove of it, and only a small minority actually prac- 
tice it. The leaders still view the movement as in its incipient 
stages, and look forward to greater developments. But, on the 
other hand, I observed that almost all who are actively engaged 
in city evangelization use it extensively. 

Moreover, it is noteworthy that these efforts have found 
favor with certain men of affairs. Among those who have 
presided at the annual meetings of the Open-Air Mission, there- 
by indicating their sympathy with the cause, have been mem- 
b)ers of Parliament, and among them several of the nobility. 
The Lord Mayor of London, while presiding in 1881, said : " It 
gives me very great pleasure to be here to-day, and it seems 
both fitting and appropriate that the chief magistrate of the city 
of London should give the sanction of his high office to such an 
•effort as this. ... I have thorough sympathy with the 
work. . . . . I am very glad that prejudice against open-air 
preaching is gradually diminishing," etc. In 1884, the annual 
meeting being in the saloon of the Mansion House, the Lord 
Mayor presiding, one speaker said : " I think it is singularly 
worthy of remark that we meet in the palace of the chief magis- 
trate of London for the purpose of furthering the work of an 
institution which a few years ago was discredited to the highest 
possible extent." At another annual meeting the Earl of 
Shaftesbury, the presiding officer for that year, said : " Amidst 
all the movements in which I have been engaged, and all I have 
known through a somewhat long career, I do not think there is 
one which has ever commended itself so much to my heart as 
this effort in which you are engaged for the promotion of open- 
air preaching. ... I assure you I know of no one movement 
so characteristic of the times in which we live as that in which 
you are engaged ; none on which the blessing of God seems so 
signally to rest ; and none which is so eminently calculated to 
conduce to the propagation of God's truth among the large 
neglected masses of this vast metropolis. Depend upon it, my 
friends, you will find that, throughout the whole range of human 
history and Christian effort, no nobler sermons have been de- 
livered, and no more acceptable prayers have been offered up, 



48 

than those sermons delivered, and those supplications presented 
to the throne of grace, under the broad canopy of God's heaven." 

The municipal authorities, either because public opinion is 
so favorable, or because their own judgment approves, give it 
their sanction and protection. Though in a few places open-air 
preachers are hampered, as a rule they are given ample liberties, 
and enjoy the protection of the police. In London, "within 
the old city walls, open-air preaching is not allowed in or near 
any prominent thoroughfare." Elsewhere in the city the police 
are bound to protect it, and can stop the meeting only when 
the street is blocked or a householder complains. One report 
says : " The police have treated the open-air preachers with con- 
sideration and kindness, and the thanks of the committee are 
due to the distinguished officer who commands the metropolitan 
police, Major-General Sir Charles Warren." 

The attitude of the common people, however, is of far 
more importance, for, though approved by ecclesiastical and sec- 
ular dignitaries, open-air preaching will accomplish little unless 
regarded with favor by the mass of the people. In my investiga- 
tions I gave especial consideration to this point. Sometimes,, 
standing at a distance, I watched to see which passers-by took 
no notice of the meeting, which tarried a moment, and which 
stayed during the entire service. At other times I mingled 
freely with the audience, observing their personal appearance 
and manner, their interest and comments. Often I forced my 
way into the groups nearer the speaker, trying to catch their 
spirit and feelings, to listen and receive impressions as they did ; 
or I stood where, the light falling upon them, I could see the ex- 
pression on their faces, where was pictured their approval or 
disapproval of the speaker's words. In it all I was brought very 
positively to the conclusion that the people regard the open-air 
preacher with favor — in fact, with far more favor than they do 
the Christians who stay at home. This was shown by the size 
of the audiences, the only limit sometimes being the speaker's 
ability to make himself heard. The people, however, were dis- 
criminating, prompt to gather about an earnest, thoughtful 
man, and very quick to leave a prattler The attention was 
good, and though the speakers not infrequently were inter- 
rupted, they had the sympathy of the audience, which invariably 
bestowed upon the disturber angry glances and sharp words. 



49 

and in one case hustled him off the grounds. It was rather 

an anomaly to hear one man swear at another for disturbing 

' a religious gathering. Undoubtedly sometimes meetings are 

4 disturbed and broken up, occasionally the preacher is insulted 

and assailed, for infidels, Jews, and Roman Catholics are 

opposed to this work, and would stop it if they could. 

Drunken men also often demoralize matters greatly. But 

the people generally, by their presence, attentiveness, and 

loyalty, manifested a hearty approval of the movement. Such 

favor from classes of men so different has been won only by 

■i the employment of judicious methods, which deserve careful 

« consideration, but which, in this paper can be presented only 

in outline. 

There are two kinds of open-air preaching, the first includ- 
ing services preliminary to an indoor meeting, the second 
including those complete in themselves. 

All preliminary services are very similar in kind, the only 
difference being that some are more elaborate than others. In 
the simplest form a company gather about the entrance of a 
building, singing hymns until a crowd has assembled. All are 
m then invited to enter and attend the main service. When the 
\ building is on a prominent thoroughfare this is effective. Ordin- 
arily, however, the singers take their stand at a point some dis- 
tance away, and endeavor to draw the people back with them. 
The Salvation Army uses this form almost exclusively, seldom 
holding the entire service in the open air, and certain evangel- 
istic and rescue agencies depend altogether upon it for securing 
their audiences. 

The Carrubber's Close Mission of Edinburgh, a remarkable 
organization of 500 volunteer workers, which has succeeded in 
reaching many of the degraded and criminal classes, makes an 
effort of this sort every night in the year. The evening I was 
. there about thirty workers went to the corner of a prominent 
street. After the singing had drawn a crowd, prayer was of- 
fered, and a simple, earnest presentation of Christ was made. 
After heartily inviting all to accompany them to their hall, 
they started down the street singing a spirited hymn. On 
reaching the mission I was about to enter, when the leader 
touched me on the arm, and asked me if I would go again. Then 




(so) 



IN PARADISE COURT. 



51 

1 perceived that only a part had entered, and while these com- 
menced and sustained the meeting, the rest returned to the cor- 
ner to cast again the net. The second time all entered and re- 
joined their forces. 

The Rev. Z. B. Woffendale of the Somers Town Presbyte- 
rian church, London, made a still more elaborate use of the pre- 
liminary service the night I was with him. With a company of 
his young people, he went about half a mile from a theatre 
where he was holding special evangelistic services. Instead of 
returning directly to the theatre, his company halted every two 
or three blocks, at each place different hymns being sung, and a 
different person presenting the invitation. The number follow- 
ing increased steadily, and after their last stop, which was in 
front of the theatre, many followed them into the building. 
Mr. Woffendale also uses this agency on Sunday evening in an- 
other way. After preaching to his people he holds a protracted 
after-meeting. At its commencement several bands of his young 
men go out on the street, secure a following in the usual man- 
ner, bring as many as possible into the church and then start 
for more, while the pastor and his other helpers strive to win 
them for Christ. Thus there is a constant ingathering as one 
band after another brings the fruit of its labors. 

The inclemency of the weather is no hindrance to work of 
this sort, which can be, and often is, sustained during the entire 
year, in winter as well as summer. In fact, many regard the 
stormy seasons as the most favorable, for then the people on the 
street are more likely to accept the invitation to a brighter and 
warmer place. 

Open-air services complete in themselves may be found 
in an endless variety of forms. Still, they naturally divide them- 
selves into four groups — those near the homes, those on the pub- 
lic thoroughfares, those at popular resorts, and those in the fields. 

Those held near the homes are quiet and unostentatious, and 
are more numerous than a superficial examination would indi- 
cate. A company of Christians leave the crowded streets and 
enter some court or alley. Necessarily the number gathered 
about them is small, but in the comparative quiet of the place 
their voices reach many others. Under such circumstances in 
Manchester, I noticed as part of the audience people sitting on 
the front steps of their houses, standing in the doorways, and 



52 

even peering from the windows. Many interesting cases are 
recorded of the conversion of persons on their sick-beds, who 
received the invitation from the invisible messengers in the 
street below. 

A rector in London uses this form in an ideal way. Feeling 
himself responsible for all the souls in the territory apportioned 
to him as his parish, each Sunday evening he sends out four 
companies of young men, who occupy as many stations. The 
next week they hold their meetings at four different places, and 
so on, week after week, until every part of his parish has been 
occupied, and the Gospel has been carried by their voices to 
every soul, whether on the street, at the saloon, or in the house. 

Services on the public thoroughfares also ordinarily gather 
small audiences ; for either the noise of the traffic drowns the 
voices so that only a few can get within hearing distance, or the 
current of the passing multitudes keeps the people from staying 
more than a moment, or the police object to the blocking of the 
way. Sometimes, however, excellent situations are found a little 
to one side, away from the crowd, and yet near enough to 
attract their attention. At such places large and satisfactory 
meetings are held. 

In Liverpool the steps of George's Hall offer a popular 
and most desirable location; but the most interesting large 
street gathering I ever attended was in Nottingham. The 
streets were filled with the customary Sunday night throng, 
many of whom turned their steps to the market, a large open 
paved square. Here and there in this place were burning 
torches, under each of which stood a speaker, and about him a 
band of singers, sustaining a gospel meeting. The people who 
gathered about them in large numbers, though in the main atten- 
tive and respectful, were evidently the ordinary city street 
crowd. The whole formed a striking scene — ^the murmurs of 
the restlessly moving multitude, the crowd surging about the 
singers, the torches sending their light into the gloomy night, 
the strains of sacred music, and the earnest tones of the speak- 
ers. I shall not soon forget that evening, nor another spent 
in the salt market of Glasgow at the end of a Saturday. The 
public houses (saloons) were doing a thriving trade, with men, 
women, and children flocking to the bars. The police were 
busy marching off the offenders. The streets were filled with 



53 

men swearing, staggering, fighting, with brawling women hor- 
rible in their drunkenness, and with the children of these men 
and these women. Everywhere profanity and vulgarity, harsh 
laughter and bitter sobs — every thing depressing — nothing to 
uplift or sustain. A stranger in a strange land, alone in the 
midst of this multitude, despair seized upon me. Verily it was 
3. place forsaken of God : here the devil seemed to hold undis- 
puted sway. Stifled, choked with the moral atmosphere, I was 
about to rush away, when suddenly, above the harsh clamors, 
above the maudlin laughter, there rose strong, clear, sweet, the 
voice of one singing "Jesus died for all mankind, and Jesus died 
for me," and a few minutes later, "This is my story, this is my 
song, praising my Saviour all the day long." I have heard trained 
choirs, large choruses, vast audiences sing, but never did the 
good news seem half so sweet and inspiring as that night, when 
the young men and maidens of Glasgow came to dispute the 
reign of Satan in this his own domain. 

The night is regarded as the very best time for open-air 
work, and not a few pastors, after preaching to their flocks in 
the church on Sunday evening, go out on the streets and in the 
darkness preach to those who love darkness rather than light. 
Mr. Cockrem of the Open-Air Mission said in explanation : "The 
Nicodemuses are not all dead yet." Many who would not be 
seen entering a place of worship or attending any religious 
service, under cover of darkness will creep up within hearing 
distance. This is especially true of Jews, Roman Catholics, 
and infidels ; and many are the interesting cases recorded of 
those who, coming thus in the darkness and finding the Saviour, 
have openly and fearlessly proclaimed him before men. 

Services at public resorts, such as races, fairs, parks, and 
at the sea-shore, are held generally in the day-time. The 
work at the Epsom, Derby, and other races requires both courage 
and judgment, for the people are absorbed entirely in the con- 
tests, and little inclined to give heed to spiritual things. 
Sometimes large audiences are gathered, but usually the main 
efforts are tract distribution, and the personal conversation to 
which often it leads. There are special opportunities among men 
who, finding themselves utterly ruined and realizing thus their 
folly and wickedness, are ready to listen to words of warning 
and encouragement. This work, which, despite the difficulties, 



54 

is not fruitless by any means, is sustained largely by the 
agents of the Open-Air Mission and other missionaries. The fol- 
lowing is a description of these men and their work: ''Their 
reception varies from the most profuse gratitude to the fiercest 
opposition, sometimes including personal violence. Homely in 
appearance, cheerful in manner, quick at repartee, patient under 
insult, grateful for kindness, now preaching a sermon, then 
giving a tract, now reproving sin, then rescuing a sinner, caring^ 
for a wandering boy, taking a lost girl home, now cast down 
by the hardness of the human heart, and anon lifted up by the 
power of the Word of God — so they pursue the even tenor 
of their way, waiting the ' Well done ! ' of the Master, when 
toil shall be exchanged for rest, the cross for the crown." 

A similar work is done at football and cricket matches, at 
flower and fruit shows, and other such gatherings. Fairs of 
every description are visited, among which none is more in- 
teresting than the Bird's Fair held each Sunday morning near 
Whitechapel in East London. Here regularly are conducted 
two open-air services by Miss Anna McPherson and her helpers. 
At other times these streets are comparatively quiet, but on 
Sunday morning they swarm with a good-natured, bustling. 
East End crowd. The walls of the houses are lined with bird- 
cages, curb-stones piled high, wagons loaded, men's arms full of 
them, some empty and for sale, but most containing birds. 
Here are birds of all colors, of all sizes, of all prices, from three 
pence to as many pounds, — birds desired for their beauty, or 
their song, or the flavor of their flesh. Besides these, the small 
traders are present in full force, with vegetables, meats, fruity 
old clothes or trinkets, taking advantage of the crowd, and 
driving a brisk trade. The church bells rang, but no one heeded 
them, and the traffic went on merrily. The influence of the place 
was almost irresistible. I also turned to make a purchase, and 
only by a vigorous effort brought myself to realize that it was the 
Lord's Day of holy rest and worship. But though the invitation 
of the church bells was not heeded, many heard the gospel, for 
it was brought to them, and in the midst of the bargaining was 
offered without money and without price. With a box for a 
pulpit platform, a small organ on wheels, a band of singers, 
some hymn-books to spare for the audience, and several speak- 
ers, divine services were held in this place. In one place the. 



55 

audience was changing constantly, many coming, but most stay- 
ing only a short time. The other audience was large, consist- 
ing almost entirely of men. It was a pleasant audience to 
address. Of course many were in their shirt sleeves, some 
evidently had overlooked their morning toilet, and a few were 
smoking, but they were attentive, responsive, and reverent. A 
loaded wagon, driven rapidly, and making a terrific din, passed 
through this assembly, which quietly parted for it, and then 
resumed its former position. I have seen church audiences dis- 
tracted far more by the crying of a child or the entrance of an 
elaborately dressed late-comer. With difficulty can " the saints " 
be induced to " come up front " near the speaker; but when I said 
to these burly fellows, **I always have heard that Englishmen 
were brave, but, unless you accept my invitation to come up 
nearer, on my return to America I shall tell my friends that I 
faced three hundred Englishmen, and they were so afraid of me 
that not one dared to come within reach of my arm" — upon 
my saying this they good-naturedly drew close about me, and 
seldom have I spoken to an audience so sympathetic and kindly 
disposed. Every Sunday morning, the year around, whatever 
the weather, these two services are sustained. Many like them 
may be found throughout the kingdom, on week days as well. 

During the summer months the parks are the favorite places 
for open-air workers, especially on Sunday afternoons. Here 
sometimes the gatherings number thousands. 

Of the services held in places of recreation, some of the 
most attractive are in the churchyards of London. Take, for 
example, the one mentioned in the opening of this article, St. 
Botolph's, Aldersgate street, only a few steps from the general 
post-office. Interments have not been made in this burial 
ground for many years, most of the grave-stones have been 
removed, and now stand against the ivied walls. The ground 
has been laid out with walks, and in the center of the plots of 
thick velvety grass are beds of geraniums and other brightly- 
blooming flowers, or richly colored foliage plants or dense shrub- 
bery. The contrast between the outside world and this spot 
is almost startling. There, din and turmoil ; here, the murmur- 
ing fountain, the rustling leaves, and the birds. No wonder it 
is thronged with shop girls and roughly dressed laborers during 
the dinner hour; and all day long ragged children and wan-faced 




(S6) 



AT THE SEASIDE. 



57 

women come, and, consciously or unconsciously, are soothed, 
refreshed, uplifted. Here, during the noon hour, is held the 
service, not loud and boisterous, not harsh and threatening, but 
tender, thoughtful, worshipful. Rev. Mr. Henrey distributes the 
leaflets, on which are such hymns as " Rock of Ages," " Hark ! 
hark! my soul." And on these, besides the hymns. Scripture 
references, and an invitation to the regular church services, are 
these words : "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground, 
having served as the churchyard for this ancient parish for many 
hundreds of years." These words, the proximity of the church, 
and nature speaking " a various language," give to these services 
a tender and hallowed impressiveness, and make the moments 
most restful and inspiring to all present. 

Mention should be made of the work at the sea-shore and 
other summer resorts, which serves to remind the pleasure- 
seekers of their spiritual privileges and duties, so often left 
behind at such seasons. Interesting and successful open-air 
efforts for children have been carried on at some of these 
places. 

Open-air work in the fields is in the midst of some- 
what similar natural surroundings, but is sustained for a very 
different class of people. This reaches the gipsies and other 
wandering elements of society, and also those coming to farming 
localities in harvest time, when large numbers are employed at 
once. One worker reports : " For five Sunday afternoons, at 
the request of the Earl of Aberdeen, the auxiliary arranged for 
services for the haymakers at Dollis Hill. The presence of the 
Earl at nearly all the services did much to cheer the men, who 
had suffered materially, owing to the wet weather. From thirty 
to eighty were present. The Earl read the Scriptures, and the 
preaching included Archdeacon Atlay, Rev. James Durran, 
Rev. Jonadab Finch, Ned Wright, and myself. Tea was served 
to the men at the close of the meeting." 

Mr. Spurgeon, in one of his lectures to his students, relates 
the following experience : " I once preached a sermon in the 
open air in haying time during a violent storm of rain. The 
text was : * He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, 
as showers that water the earth,' and surely we had the blessing 
as well as the inconvenience. I was sufficiently wet, and my 
congregation must have been drenched, but they stood it out, 



58 

and I never heard that anybody was the worse in health, and^ 
thank God, I have heard of souls brought to Christ under that 
discourse." 

A vigorous work is done among the pickers in the hop gar- 
dens of Kent and other counties, among whom are not only 
country people, but also many from the cities. The method of 
work is thus described by one : " Our plan was to go from bin 
to bin, picking and speaking at each. Then we sang and spoke 
in the center of a number of bins. This, of course, was done 
most easily at dinner time. In some of the gardens as many as 
200 or 300 listened." The following shows the spirit of the 
workers: ''Peter Wallis' report of a month among the hop- 
pickers gives a lively picture of a miscellaneous community of 
2,000, with its joys, sorrows, and varied experiences. Here is 
an ideal missionary's Sunday : * Had a good day, and a rough 
day, and a long day, and yet a blessed day. Preached twelve 
times at twelve encampments, beginning at half-past nine in. 
the morning and ending at ten at night, only coming in to 
meals.' " 

Most interesting are the monster gatherings in Wales^ 
where the assembled multitude in the fields spends the day in 
listening to successive sermons by different ministers ; and per- 
haps more pleasing and profitable, as well as more common, are 
the country congregations which assemble for part of the Sab- 
bath on a hillside or in a meadow, and worship beneath the blue 
sky in a temple not made with hands. 

What are the results of open-air preaching .? Naturally 
we expect to find few. The audiences, while containing 
many reverent listeners, consist largely of those who are morally 
degraded, or spiritually hardened, or prejudiced, or, at best, in- 
different to the claims of the truth. The open-air preacher 
works in fields where there are many " stony places," and he 
cannot expect as many fold as from seed sown under more fav- 
orable circumstances. Moreover, his hearers being mainly 
strangers, and sometimes the faces of all being invisible in the 
darkness, a man cannot ascertain the effect of his words. I 
presume that only a small percentage of the conversions are 
or could be recorded on earth. Many will not know, until 
the records of the deeds done in the body are read, what street 






» 



59 

preacher gave to them the bread of life. But though they cannot 
express their gratitude to the messenger, they do not hesitate to 
honor the means employed to bring the message. The witness 
of open-air converts bears stronger testimony to this kind of 
preaching than do the statistics of the workers themselves. 

But nevertheless there is no lack of evidence on this ques- 
tion. About the first man in England I questioned on this sub- 
ject said his church was the outgrowth of open-air work, and 
that among the converts were missionaries in Asia and Africa, 
as well as clergymen in England. Mr. Charles Cook, whose ef- 
forts in Hyde Park are so well known, wrote, in answer to an in- 
quiry : " I have gathered an indoor congregation of 2,000 from 
■ open-air meetings. Real conversions are seen at the close of 
every meeting." That the striking results secured by the 
Salvation Army in Great Britain have come in no small degree 
from open-air preaching is shown by the following extract from 
a personal letter to me from General Booth : " I may say that a 
large proportion of the successes of the Salvation Army has 
been due, in my estimation, humanly, to our open-air operations. 
, . . With the submerged tenth, in the ordinary course of 
things, we should have, you will easily see, no chance without 
open-air work." I have similar testimony, equally emphatic, 
from Commissioner Howard, who has charge of the Army 
work in London. Mr. Robertson, Secretary of that remarkable 
mission in Edinburgh, the Carrubber's Close, when asked how 
their work would be affected if open-air preaching were discon- 
tinued, answered unhesitatingly and emphatically : " Absolutely 
crippled ! absolutely crippled ! " A report of the Open-Air Mis- 
sion says that at every election of new members, some are found 
to be open-air converts. The Somers Town Presbyterian 
church of London has a membership of over 1,000, and "of 
these no less than two-thirds are the fruit of open-air preach- 
ing." On my table lie records of such conversions, which, if 
but partially given here, would fill an article ten times the length 
of this. And, moreover, no one has counted the number of 
weary travelers refreshed, of drooping hearts revived, of evil 
purposes checked, of men nerved to hurl back temptation, 
of wandering boys called home by the sound of a mother's fav- 
orite hymn, of forsaken girls thus saved from bitterness and a 
life worse than death. No one can measure the results in re- 



6o 



moving the prejudice of those who believe the Church cares 
nothing for them, and whose bitter cry often is : " And no man 
cared for my soul." And who can sum up the effects on the 
workers themselves, to whom is imparted a wonderful strength 
and sturdiness, and into whose character is woven somewhat of 
the fibre of which martyrs are made ? 

Influences cannot always be compressed into figures ; but 
they can be felt and acknowledged. The conviction of thought- 
ful, observant men carries much weight. This it was, far more 
than all the "experiences" and "cases" brought to my atten- 
tion, that convinced me that there were eminently satisfactory 
results. These men collected no figures : they wished none. 
They were in the heat of the battle and knew this was a mighty 
weapon. That was enough for them. Whatever doubt may 
have remained in my mind concerning the effectiveness and 
value of open-air preaching, was driven away by Mr. Spurgeon. 
Second to none in the range of his experience and the extent 
of his observations, versatile in the employment of diverse 
methods, a keen and conservative observer of men and things, 
he said in answer to my question concerning the value of this 
agency and the desirability of its extension : " It is the very 
back-bone of the movement to win the non-church-going ele- 
ment. The more of it the better, the more of it the better, 
— the whole world around ! " 




IN REGENT'S PARK, LONDON. 



'^THE MORE OF IT THE BETTER." 



" The more of it the better. The more of it the better, the 
whole world around." These inspiring words of the great 
preacher, who has since passed from the scene of his earthly 
labors, lead naturally from a consideration of what has been to 
what should be. Little, comparatively, is being done. Preach- 
ing in the open air might be increased a thousandfold, if the 
Church adopted it heartily, as it has the Sunday-school and 
prayer-meeting. The wisdom of such an adoption and the 
pertinence of Mr. Spurgeon's words are to be ascertained in 
the light of the present opportunity and need. 

There is no lack of opportunity. The peculiar charac- 
teristics of modern life are favorable for open-air preaching. In 
these days houses are built closer together, their rooms are 
smaller, their yards are disappearing. Almost everybody is 
crowded, in town as well as city. Multitudes have in their 
private apartments no convenient place in which to enjoy their 
leisure time. As a consequence spare moments are naturally, 
perhaps necessarily, spent on the streets. At certain hours 
of the day these are filled with people chatting, laughing, 
visiting. The street is the poor man's reception-room. 

Another cause sends people outdoors. The majority work 
in ill-ventilated, sunless offices, stores, factories, where they 
seldom enjoy the combination of fresh air and sunshine. For 
these they thirst as the hart panteth after the water-brooks. 
Crowded in huge buildings by day and little rooms by night, 
they are eager to get outdoors. Vast multitudes spend their 
unemployed hours on the street and in other open places. 
Here they are at leisure, ready to hear and see anything. A 
public speaker is a diversion, and not an intrusion. In the 
past the preacher has generally called the people from tent and 
castle and cottage out into the open air to his service. Now, 
they are outdoors already. The audience is there before the 
preacher. There is no lack of opportunity. 

Furthermore, the right to address people in public places 

(6.) 



62 

has been extended. In Protestant countries local governments 
are growing more liberal, and the public are generally friendly. 
In missionary fields foreign influence at the native courts 
usually secures needed protection. This is not universal, and 
intense hostility is often manifested by both people and au- 
thorities. The Salvation Armv and others many times have 
been treated shamefully. Still permission and protection for 
the open-air preacher are far more general than formerly ; and 
more places and people are ready for his efforts. Certainly 
never before in the history of the Church have the opportuni- 
ties for open-air work been so numerous, safe, and satisfactory 
as at the present time. 

The need is as great as the opportunity. // is needed 
for the flirt he?' extension of the CJinrcJi of CJirist. The greater 
part of the world still remains unconquered ; but more of it is 
open for the entrance of the Gospel than ever before, and more 
countries are actually the scene of missionary activity. In 
almost every land, amid scores of languages, are thousands of men 
seeking to extend the Master's kingdom among the millions of 
heathendom. Far-reaching, systematic, and persistent are the 
efforts made. Every method valuable in missionary work is of 
more value to-day than at any previous time in the history of 
the Church. Of these, open-air preaching has proved most 
effective. Surely, it may be said, the more of it the better, in 
every missionary field the whole world around. 

It is needed for the further reformation of the Chnrch. 
There are more Roman Catholics to-day than in the time of 
Luther; and though some gross abuses have been discarded, 
the supremacy of the Scriptures and the sufficiency of a simple 
faith in Christ, for which Luther contended, and which are the 
heritage of Protestantism, are not at all accepted. The car- 
dinal errors remain. The work of reformation is still a need. 
The more the better the whole world around of every agency 
which has been successful in winning to a true and li\ing faith 
in Christ those who are His in name only, and in compelling 
the Church to harmonize its teachings with the Master's. 

// is needed in the normal life of the OmrcJi i7i Protestant 
lands. The very people who offer in public places material for 
open-air congregations are the ones who come the least under 
the ordinary ministrations of the Church. The educated 



63 

classes are largely connected with the Church, as is shown by 
the remarkably large proportion of Christians in our higher 
schools and colleges. The family of wealth having no church 
relationship is the exception and not the rule. The people 
working in shops, living in little rooms, and spending their 
leisure on the streets, constitute the large majority of the non- 
church-going classes. The opportunity offered the open-air 
preacher enables him to reach the very ones he is eager to 
reach, and who need him. The opportunity is providential. 

It may be thought that Mr. Spurgeon's words are too sweep- 
ing, and that while needed in general the whole world around, 
in Protestant countries open-air preaching is adapted only to 
peculiar localities and special circumstances which require ex- 
traordinary efforts ; and that in the large majority of cases and 
places it can do little good. It is true that any particular form 
of open-air preaching is not adapted to all circumstances, but 
it is equally true that almost all Christians are called upon at 
times to face situations where the introduction of some form 
of it would be fruitful of good results. 

It could be used advantageously in country and town dur- 
ing the summer in place of the regular church service. At the 
customary hour the congregation assembling in grove, or 
meadow, or churchyard, would find the service far more restful 
and inspiring than in a close, walled audience-room. A prayer- 
meeting held some bright evening on lawn or piazza would 
prove more refreshing to body and soul than if held in the 
lecture-room with its heat and heavy atmosphere. In the life 
of Rev. John G. Paton, missionary to the Hebrides, occurs an 
account of such a gathering which would be as delightful in a 
Christian as in a heathen land. Mrs. Paton says in a letter : 
" Namakei never fails, when well, to take Mr. Paton's Bible 
and lay it on the desk every Sabbath and Wednesday before 
the service; and to get the people in the village assembled for 
worship, which we have every evening under a large ban- 
yan tree in the Imrai (the public meeting-ground), the great 
place of general rendezvous, which is close beside our house. 
I particularly enjoy this evening service, when all nature is 
at rest and looks so exquisitely beautiful, everything reflecting 
the gorgeous sunsets, and nothing heard but the soft -rustle of 
the leaves, and what Longfellow calls the 'symphony of the 



64 

ocean.' I think the natives too are inspired with it, for none 
of us seem inclined to move off after worship, and often, but 
especially on Sabbath evenings, we sit still and sing over alL 
our hymns." 

The church of which I formerly was pastor, the Eastern 
Avenue of Springfield, Mass., held some Sabbath evening ser- 
vices during July and August on the church grounds at about 
the hour of sunset. The audiences were larger than at our 
regular indoor services, and the spiritual life of the church 
was quickened and refreshed. As a consequence, the church 
was in a better condition at the close than at the beginning of 
the summer. Instead of spending the fall in preparation for 
active work, we were ready to put forth at once earnest hearty 
efforts. The mere change itself was beneficial. When we 
returned to the customary services, they seemed fresh and 
more attractive. Their monotony had vanished. 

There is some ground for the claim of those who discon- 
tinue some or all the religious ser\nces during the summer. 
They believe the work will be taken up in the fall with vigor 
and enthusiasm, instead of wearily and listlessly after a monot- 
onous and disheartening summer's efforts. A little change is 
indeed often the best tonic for soul as well as for body. But 
all these and many other advantages would be gained by a 
change instead of a cessation of work. Securing this, the re- 
maining months would be more enjoyable and fruitful, and the 
summer would not be as barren as it often is. Most country 
and town churches would be profited greatly by a few open-air 
services during the summer. 

Mr. Spurgeon is very hearty and emphatic on this subject,. 
saying : " I am quite sure, too, that if we could persuade our 
friends in the country to come out a good many times in the 
year, and hold a service in a meadow, or in a shady grove, or on 
the hillside, or in a garden, or on a common, // would be all the 
better for the icsual hearers. The mere novelty of the place 
would freshen their interest, and wake them up. The slight 
change of scene would have a wonderful effect upon the more 
somnolent. See how mechanically they move into their usual 
place of worship, and how mechanically they go out again. 
They fall into their seats, as if at last they had found a resting 
place ; they rise to sing with an amazing effort, and they drop 



I 



6s 

down before you have time for a doxology at the close of the 
hymn, because they did not notice it was coming. What logs 
some regular hearers are ! Many of them are asleep with their 
eyes open. After sitting a certain number of years in the 
same old spot, where the pews, pulpit, galleries, and all things 
else are always the same, except that they get a little dirtier 
and dingier every week, where everybody occupies the same 
position for ever and for evermore, and the minister's face, voice, 
tone are much the same from January to December — you get 
to feel the holy quiet of the scene, and listen to what is going 
on as though it were addressed to 'the dull cold ear of death.' 
As a miller hears his wheels, as though he did not hear them, 
or a stoker scarcely notices the clatter of his engine after en- 
during it for a little time, or as a dweller in London never 
notices the ceaseless grind of the traffic ; so do many members 
of our congregations become insensible to the most earnest 
addresses, and accept them as a matter of course. The preach- 
ing and the rest of it get to be so usual that they might as well 
not be at all. Hence a change of place might be useful, it 
might prevent monotony, shake up indifference, suggest 
thought, and in a thousand ways promote attention, and give 
new hope of doing good. A great fire which should burn some 
of our churches to the ground might not be the greatest 
calamity which has ever occurred, if it only aroused some of 
those rivals of the seven sleepers of Ephesus, who will never 
be moved so long as the old house and the old pews hold to- 
gether. Besides, the fresh air, and plenty of it, is a grand 
thing for every mortal man, woman, and child. I preached in 
Scotland twice on a Sabbath day at Blairmore, on a little 
height by the side of the sea ; and after discoursing with all my 
might to large congregations, to be counted by thousands, I did 
not feel one-half so much exhausted as I often am when ad- 
dressing a few hundreds in some horrible black hole of Calcutta 
called a church." 

" One of the earliest things that a minister should do when 
he leaves college and settles in a country town or village is to 
begin open-air speaking. He will generally have no difficulty 
as to the position — the land is before him, and he may choose 
according to his own sweet will. The market-cross will be a 
good beginning, then the head of a court crowded with the 
5 



66 

poor, and next the favorite corner of the idlers of the parish. 
Cheap-Jack's stand will make a capital pulpit on Sunday night 
during the village fair, and a wagon will serve well on the green, 
or in a field at a little distance, during the week-day evenings of 
the rustic festival. A capital place for an al fresco discourse is 
the green, where the old elm trees, felled long ago, are still 
lying in reserve, as if they were meant to be seats for your 
congregation ; so also is the burial ground of the meeting- 
house, where 'the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.' 
Consecrate it to the living, and let the people enjoy ' Meditations 
among the Tombs.' Make no excuses, then, but get to work at 
once." 

In many churches there would be little pleasure and profit 
in such open-air services because during the summer most of 
the congregation are absent, the rich having gone to summer 
resorts and the poor to the parks. This temporary desertion 
of the sanctuary would not be a cause for anxiety, for empty 
churches are harmless, and preachers can survive the stare of 
empty pews, if only all the absentees were enjoying regular 
spiritual instruction and inspiration. But they aref not. Prob- 
ably no prayer is more pertinent at the close of the summer 
holidays than '' We have left undone those things which we 
ought to have done." People on their vacations, including re- 
ligious leaders, who are as faithful in attendance on divine ser- 
vice as when at home, are exceptions. This is sometimes of 
choice, and sometimes of necessity, for in many summer re- 
sorts church accommodations are unsatisfactory or insufficient. 
People remaining in the city have the same feeling, and do 
practically the same thing. They are determined to go where 
the green grass grows all around, and if they cannot go for 
many days, they go for one ; if they cannot have five dollars for 
car fare, they pay five cents, and go just the same. In all 
classes are many who lose ground steadily during this period, 
and as a consequence most pastors feel in their churches at the 
end of the summer the loss of the previous season's spiritual 
momentum. 

The church may utter a dignified protest and cling to its 
deserted courts, or may make, as some do, an unconditional sur- 
render of all effort ; or else, becoming as weak to the weak, she 
may take the opportunity presented by open-air preaching, and 



67 

carry the Gospel to them where they are. Open-air preaching- 
is needed to cope with this evil. Though it cannot entirely make 
good the lack, it will help to keep alive and nourish spiritual 
life. Thus did Aldhelm, bishop of the Church in the seventh 
century. When the people would not come to receive his 
instructions and exhortations, he disguised himself as a harper 
and went forth. When with his minstrelsy he had collected 
an audience about him, he turned to loftier themes and sang a 
Saviour's love and the story of Redemption. Open-air services 
in parks and at summer resorts have been a great success 
in America, as well as in Britain, and have proved beyond a 
peradventure that multitudes will attend in an interested and 
devotional manner such meetings who cannot be persuaded 
to enter a closed building for the same purpose. People 
visit resorts to be in the open air, and it requires a 
strong sense of duty, or a great attraction, to bring them to 
an indoor gathering. But they can be easily drawn to an open- 
air service. 

Of course, no church goes in a body to any given place, and 
the minister is not usually in the same place with his flock. 
But if open-air services were instituted generally wherever peo- 
ple flock for the summer, many would be reached and benefited 
thereby, and would return to their churches with undiminished 
spiritual earnestness and sensitiveness. It is done in many 
places. It can be done in many more. The difficulties meet- 
ing many movements do not appear here. A large force of 
workers, though desirable, is not necessary, and little or no 
money is required. Private solicitation and public appeals for 
funds are not indispensable adjuncts. The gospel can be given 
without money and without price, as well as received in that 
way. Wherever there are people and a willing witness for 
Christ, then and there open-air services are possible if desira- 
ble. I do not see why this work cannot be introduced gen- 
erally as a feature of summer vacations. 

Of course, some will object. In one town the leading min- 
ister succeeded in stopping a plan for Sunday afternoon preach- 
ing on the parks because he thought it would draw people from 
his church, and justify his young people in going to the park at 
that time. And not many days after he sailed for Europe, and 
was gone all the summer. He strained at a gnat and swallowed 



69 

a camel. Without doubt, had those services been held, some 
of his congregation, who, though in town, were away from his 
church about as long as he was, would have had their thoughts 
turned to higher and spiritual things while wandering through 
the parks, and he would have found his church in better spirit- 
ual condition on his return. Though there are objections to 
this work, it is by far the best, and in fact almost the only, way 
of meeting the difficulties presented to the church in the sum- 
mer season. 

The Church needs open-air preaching as a means of meeting 
another responsibility — that of caring for men temporarily 
gathered in some place for a specific purpose. Such communi- 
ties are seen about mines and quarries, in lumber camps, where 
a railroad is being built, where sailors are numerous on the 
shore, or a regiment has gone into encampment. These men, 
away from the refining influences of home and woman, are in 
especial need of safeguards. Erection of churches would be an 
extravagance, for they soon might be entirely useless. Instead 
of trying a tent, or crowding a cabin, the preacher can often best 
accomplish his purpose of reaching the men by an open-air ser- 
vice. I have been greatly interested in reading accounts of such 
gatherings held during the War of the Rebellion. Some were 
in pine groves, others in grassy meadows ; some were in the 
bright morning, and some at sunset ; some were held on the eve 
of a conflict, and others on the battlefield itself, while the con- 
flict was raging all about. These were thrilling scenes and 
often blessed. The illustration of Jeremy Taylor preaching in 
camp is picturesque, and shows how such opportunities present 
themselves and may be seized. 

In a different form it is needed in making good another lack. 
Upon the outskirts of our large cities are scattered communi- 
ties, too small to erect buildings and sustain churches ; and in 
their centers are sections similarly destitute, although for differ- 
ent reasons. These can be and have been reached by means of 
a Gospel Wagon, either one made expressly for this purpose, or 
temporarily adapted to the work. Such a wagon, holding a small 
organ, and a company of singers and speakers, can be driven in 
succession to places comparatively distant, without consuming 
the time and strength of the workers. There are numerous ad- 
vantages in this plan. Good music is always possible, the 



70 

speakers have an advantageous position, and they enjoy an inde- 
pendence not otherwise attainable. Several of these Gospel 
Wagons are in use in different cities in the United States. 

I have heard of a similar plan employed on Western plains, 
less elaborate, but equally effective, where a large farm wagon 
was put to this service and secured results as satisfactory as in 
its secular harvesting. I also have known of a party of young 
men starting in a less commodious wagon, and driving over 
sparsely settled hills, and accomplishing much good by holding 
services wherever a group of houses presented the opportunity 
of an audience. 

The more the results actually attained are considered, and 
also the opportunities and needs of the times, the more perti- 
nent do Mr. Spurgeon's words appear. The Church does need . 
more and more open-air preaching to meet many difBculties- 
constantly presenting themselves, and not easily compassed by 
the regular services. 

Moreover, the time is ripe for the general introduction of this 
method of advancing the Master's kingdom. It is a period of 
forward movements. Though opposition will appear, without 
doubt the objectors will be reconciled as easily and quickly as 
they have been to scores of innovations introduced during the 
past half-century in forms of work and worship. In fact, the 
Church is peculiarly ready for open-air preaching, because it 
begins to feel a want which this can best supply. For a long 
time mental and spiritual activity ceased with the approach of 
summer, to be resumed only when it took its flight. Schools 
and colleges were closed and church work was reduced to a 
minimum. Intellectual and religious hibernation took place in 
summer. Education was the first to escape from this absurd 
notion. Summer schools are now the order of the day. Not 
only do pupils study the modern languages, but they wrestle 
with ancient languages and history, with science and philosophy. 
The summer has become a period of intellectual activity. 
Places and methods are different, but good work is done and the 
results are real. The Church also is commencing to feel that it 
too has possibilities of profit during this season. It is like a 
man clothed in summer with heavy winter garments, who is 
certain he cannot work in the harvest field, but who is wonder- 
ing whether he cannot dress himself in garments suited to the 



71 

season, and do some work after all. We wear clothes in sum- 
mer as well as in winter, but of different material and cut ; we 
eat food in summer as well as in winter, but of different kind 
and proportion ; we continue our social life, but change the 
glowing hearth for the green hill ; but we make no accommoda- 
tions in our religious life, and consequently it languishes. It is 
a significant fact that the denomination which has grown the 
most rapidly in the past century is the only one that has 
largely realized that summer spiritual work can be done. All 
may not need camp meetings, but all do need to follow the ex- 
ample of the Methodists in striving to make the summer a fruit- 
ful season. The Church is awakening to this fact, is looking 
about, is trying experiments. In open-air preaching is found 
the desired adaptation of religious work to summer circum- 
stances. By it the barren season will become fruitful. The 
Church is ready and is welcoming it. Mr. Spurgeon's wish is 
prophetic. There will be more and more of open-air preaching 
the whole world around. It will be better for man and will be 
for the glory of God. 




WESLEY PREACHING ON HIS FATHER'S TOMB. 



OPEN-AIR PREACHING AS A FACTOR IN CITY 
EVANGELIZATION. 



Greatness has been thrust upon our cities, at first dehghting 
and then alarming us. To-day earnest men in every sphere of 
life are wrestling with the new and perplexing problems created 
by this rapid growth. The church has her share, and among 
them is the problem of city evangelization. Large numbers of 
people are away from all visible religious influences. The devil 
has mortgages on many down-town churches and is foreclosing 
rapidly. Often on Sunday the bell of the excursion-train ex- 
tends a more effectual call than the church chimes; and the 
"closed door" of the saloon successfully rivals the ''open door" 
set before us by the Lord. In speaking of these non-church- 
going masses we say they have drifted away from the Church. 
They, on the other hand, stoutly assert that the Church has de- 
serted them, and is the guilty party. Neither deny the separa- 
tion. Whose the fault, God knows. Their reunion is the 
problem of city evangelization. 

To accomplish this we must adopt in our church work the 
cardinal principle of modern business methods. We are behind 
the times. A merchant managing his affairs as we do ours 
would not be able to pay ten cents on a dollar. " The children 
of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of 
light." In the business world to-day the demand does not seek 
the supply, but the supply seeks the demand, and if necessary 
awakens and even creates it. Upon this principle have our 
great business enterprises been erected. No longer do mer- 
chants wait for their customers. The wholesale houses send 
their traveling men. The retailers solicit orders and deliver 
goods. Everything is brought to a man these days — except 
the Gospel. The Church alone still follows the old plan, secur- 
ing a building, offering its treasures, and waiting for the demand 
to seek the spiritual supply. 

But this will not do. Non-church-goers cannot be drawn to 
the church simply by attractions offered there, however success- 
ful such inducements may be in drawing people from other 

(72) 



73 

churches. A brilUant preacher told me that he repeated in a 
New York mission a series of sermons which in a New England 
town had crowded the church, but only one new auditor was 
drawn. Some years ago a famous evangelist held special ser- 
vices in another down-town New York mission. It was kept 
out of the papers, but widely advertised in the vicinity. Few 
came, until the up-town church-going people, hearing he was 
there, came down and crowded the church. I attended a service 
in the only church of a populous district in London. The 
music was wonderfully sweet and inspiring, but the singers 
numbered more than the audience. The strongest attraction, 
whether of sermon or song, within the church affects the world, 
the flesh, and the devil about as much as the latest sensation at 
a dive affects a spiritually-minded Christian. 

To succeed we must adopt this important business principle 
in our religious work: the spiritual supply must seek the de- 
mand, and if necessary revive or create it. Objections that this 
degrades the Gospel are not pertinent, for this is God's way. 
He sent Moses, Isaiah, Jonah, and other prophets to the people, 
not the people to the prophets. We have reversed this divine 
method. We demand that the people shall seek the preacher. 
The Good Shepherd did not wait until the lost sheep stood at 
the door of the fold bleating for admittance. Christ did not 
wait until we knocked at the door of heaven, but from its por- 
tals he hastened while our feet were at the threshold of hell, 
and our hand stretched forth to knock there. The Son of Man 
came to seek the lost. What right have we to say that the lost, 
whom we are sent to save, must seek us. The responsibility 
rests upon us. Too often we shirk it. A minister said to me 
once : " The churches are practically saying to the people, ' We 
have put the Gospel in this building. You may come here and 
get it, and find the way to heaven ; or stay where you are, and 
go to hell.' " This assumption that a Christian's responsibility 
terminates when he has given the good news to all willing to 
come and hear him is unscriptural. We cannot wash our hands 
at their failure to come to a place of worship appointed by us. 
If they refuse to heed the Gospel, the sin is indeed theirs : if, 
however, it is not brought to their hearing, the fault is ours. 
We must not leave them alone. The doctrine of laissez faire 
has no place in the creed of the church militant. 



74 

There are many turning the Church upside down with their 
theological teachings : whether or not such men are needed, we 
do need men who shall turn the churches inside out, that each 
pew may become an outside pulpit, preaching salvation to the 
portion of the city over against itself. Church buildings too 
often are huge ''bushels" under which a glorious light is hid- 
den, instead of being candlesticks, sending rays of spiritual 
light in all directions. The words " Preach the Gospel to every 
creature" are relegated to foreign missionary meetings. We 
emphasize it, when obedience by proxy is possible. But 
absolute and imperative is the command for us to present 
Christ to every creature within our cities. If it cannot be ac- 
complished by our regular church services, then must it be 
done some other way. One British Presbytery is right when it 
requires its ministers to go out to the people several times a 
year and preach in the open air. We, too, must go to the people 
in their houses, on the streets, in the parks, wherever we can 
get a hearing. House-to-house visitation is necessary and is 
effective in reaching mothers and children in their homes. 
Men and young people, working all day and going out generally 
in the evening, must be reached by open-air preaching, if at all. 
And this will reach them. Wherever in Great Britain and else- 
where it has been fairly tried, such people have listened to the 
message brought to them. The character of these audiences is 
well indicated by the fact that such services flourish best where 
there is a large non-church-going element. The two New York 
pastors, who complained that few of the crowds at their open- 
air meetings would follow them into the church, were witnesses 
to the need and opportunity of open-air preaching as a factor 
in city evangelization. 

The motives bringing them to listen are varied. This is 
true of a church congregation, also. But so long as they are 
willing to listen, the opportunity exists, and the preacher's duty 
is plain and imperative. Sometimes opposition is aroused and 
manifested, but as a rule the majority of the people are kindly 
disposed to the open-air preacher. They recognize the unself- 
ish loving interest prompting his effort, and are touched by it. 
Except in strongly Roman Catholic districts, the large majority 
sympathize with the preacher and are against the intruder. 
Ordinarily, the attention of an open-air audience is equal to that 



75 

of any, and the speaker's opportunity as great. There are more 
distractions than in a church, but the audience keeps awake. 
The wandering mind simply carries off the body, instead of 
leaving it to gaze blankly at the pulpit ; and there is not much 
choice between these two common occurrences. Expressions 
of approval and disapproval are more apparent and disturbing, 
but also more stimulating. Though the environment appar- 
ently is unfavorable, an audience outdoors will receive and 
carry away about as much as one in a heated closed building. 

All sorts and conditions of men will be reached by the open- 
air preacher. Among them will be found, besides others, three 
classes who can be reached with difficulty by ordinary means. 

The first class includes those who have come from priest- 
ridden countries, where religion is a mere form, presenting irk- 
some restraints rather than spiritual inspiration. Continuing in 
subjection, they regard Protestantism as a damnable heresy; or, 
having escaped, they shun all religious organizations as alike 
detestable and dangerous. Bitterness, prejudice, or fear of 
priestly condemnation keep them from crossing the thresholds 
of our sanctuaries. With such our cities are crowded, and yet 
to get a mere handful within a Protestant church is no easy 
task, as all laborers among them will testify. It requires gen- 
erally a moral earnestness within their hearts to surmount these 
barriers. This, the Gospel alone can supply, but they do not 
have the Gospel. It is absurd to expect them to enter our 
churches for that power, without which their coming is impossi- 
ble. As well signal the shipwrecked sailor to swim to the shore 
for the lifeboat. As well ask the sick man to walk to the place 
where he can find nourishment which will enable him to walk. 
As well bid the fettered prisoner come forth and secure imple- 
ments with which to break his fetters and free himself. Rather 
should we take to them the means of escape, and then, being 
free, will they come to us. The nail will leap to the magnet 
and cling to it, but the magnet must first be brought near the 
nail. Thousands never will feel the attraction of the sweet 
story of old until it is taken to them. These Italians, Bohe- 
mians, and other such, know nothing of the sweetness, purity, 
and power of the Gospel as it is in Jesus Christ. When 
we urge them to our churches, they picture to themselves as 
ours a relio-ion from which we ourselves would shrink. We 



75 

must make dear to them the good tidings. The Bible, 
and portions of it, tracts and illustrated papers must be dis- 
tributed, and the old, old story must be told again and again to 
them, in their houses, on the streets, at the parks, — wherever 
they can be found. Only thus can their false ideas of 
Christianity be banished and their prejudices removed. Espec- 
ially valuable is the opportunity of sowing the good seed in the 
hearts of the children of such parentage, who often gather in 
large numbers around the open-air preacher, though they dare 
not cross the threshold of his church. Let those who claim 
that Romanism does not offer the Gospel, cease their tirades, 
and strive to make good the lack, by simply holding up Christ 
wherever Romanists will listen. The philanthropist, George 
Holland of London, told me that he had observed that Jews 
who shunned every appearance of Christian interest, gathered 
in large numbers in open-air services after dark. Mr. Spurgeon, 
after relating the conversion of a Jew who had attended such 
meetings, adds : *' How many other strangers and fellow-citi- 
zens may, by the same instrumentality, have become fellow- 
citizens with the saints and of the household of God we cannot 
tell. Romanists also are met with in this manner more fre- 
quently than some would suppose. It is seldom prudent to 
publish cases of conversion among Papists ; but my own obser- 
vation leads me to believe that they are far more common than 
they were ten years ago, and the gracious work is frequently 
commenced by what is heard of the Gospel at our street 
corners." Such people after their conversion require faithful 
instruction and Christian sympathy for a long time. These, 
open-air preaching cannot supply : but it can let them taste 
and see that the Lord is good, and arouse in them a hungering 
and thirsting after righteousness, sufficiently strong to bring 
them to the churches. 

Another class includes foreigners very different from these, 
being nominally Protestant, but whom it is almost as difficult 
to reach. Some of them have had a Godless childhood. Still 
more regard religion as a childish diversion, to be put away at 
manhood. They speak pleasantly and patronizingly of the re- 
ligious forms observed by them in their youth, as we would of 
their playthings. They have nothing against the Church ; it has 
no attractions for them. They receive an invitation to attend 



77 

church with a smile and expression of thanks, as a little cour- 
tesy extended to them out of good will ; they never accept. 
Neither church nor mission reaches them. The former they 
consider an expensive luxury, and less desirable than the beer 
garden ; the latter is for criminals and the poor, they think ; 
and they are neither. They pay their debts ; they care for 
their families. This is religion enough, they say. Real re- 
ligion is unknown to them. Such form the bulk of our re- 
spectable Protestant non-church-going element. Their hearts 
are good ground, but they will not come to receive the seed. 
From them could be formed tender, faithful, aggressive Chris- 
tkns, if only we could reach them. They can be found in 
large numbers on our parks on Sunday afternoons, and offer a 
most attractive field. Here at leisure and sauntering about, 
they are drawn by their love of music or simple curiosity to 
join a congregation. I know of no other way of successfully 
bringing to this class the Gospel. It is this or nothing ; a 
Hobson's choice for the Church. Fortunately the opportunity 
thus offered is favorable. The bright sunshine, the pure air, 
the rich coloring of sky and earth, prepare the mind for God's 
revelation spoken by men. I would much prefer an auditor 
coming from a walk on the park to one coming from the peru- 
sal of a Sunday newspaper, as do the majority of men in our 
church congregations. A man shut up in a shop or store all the 
week, with its close air and gloomy rooms, finds his whole nature 
soothed and uplifted ; his mind and heart are in a wonderfully 
receptive condition. Some of the most reverent, responsive, 
inspiring audiences I ever saw were in parks on Sunday after- 
noons. So this is not only the sole opportunity of reaching 
large portions of our respectable non-church-going population, 
but it is a grand opportunity, and full of promise. 

Some fear this work will discredit the regular church ser- 
vices. This easily can be avoided by choosing other than the 
usual hours for church services, and by going out avowedly as 
representatives of the Church. Nor will it be accepted as a 
substitute for church life. Almost invariably when a man's 
heart is touched he seeks a regular place of worship. Open-air 
work has been far more fruitful in convicting men, so that they 
sought the Church and there found Christ, than in actually 
securing their conversion while in the open air. After speak- 



78 

ing in a Glasgow mission, I was addressed by a young man, 
who said : •' I also am an American." He told me his experi- 
ence. A professional gambler, once the keeper of an opium 
joint with a Chinaman, he had come to England to swindle 
people at the races with a card trick. On his way to make ar- 
rangements for the coming races he passed some people hold- 
ing an open-air meeting. A hymn was being sung which 
touched him strangely. He passed on, but could not escape 
the impression. Instead of continuing his plan, he sought a 
religious service in a church, and that night made his peace 
with God. Many others have done the same. Churches have 
filled their empty seats by means of open-air services. More 
might do the same. They are feeders to the Church, and in no 
sense rivals or substitutes. If men, being converted, were left 
without a church home, they would die spiritually. The object 
in open-air work is to present Christ to the Christless, in the 
assured belief that finding Him, or even seeking Him, they will 
go to His Church, and receive all it has to offer, and give to it 
their lives. It is distinctively a factor in city evangelization, 
and when that has been accomplished and people are all again 
under the direct spiritual influence of the Church, there will be 
less need for it. But until that is accomplished, and in ac- 
complishing that, we must use it as an important factor ; use it 
constantly and earnestly, 

A third class who would be blessed by open-air preaching 
includes those who need to have revived within their hearts 
spiritual truths, experiences, purposes, aspirations, which have 
been crushed by the blows of error, or stupefied by the fumes 
of vice. In this class are children of Christian parents and 
those who still have in their possession certificates of church 
membership, whose voices once were heard in exhortation. 
Among them may be found those formerly Sunday-school teach- 
ers and superintendents, deacons and ministers. Few experi- 
ences in mission work are sadder and more painful than meeting 
such. How can I describe my feelings, as the son of a minister 
I plead, in the midst of the fumes of a bar-room, with one who 
declared himself a minister's son. These once godly, the chil- 
dren of godly parents, once under Christian influences, are dead 
in trespasses and sins. They can be reached only in one way. 
New truths, new exhortations, new hymns cannot touch them. 



79 

There must be something which shall awaken the spiritual in- 
fluences of the past. 

But what is there in the surroundings of such men to remind 
them of the past? It is work, work, work, all the time, — an 
incessant drive. How long a man might live in a great city 
without any external reminder of the things which are unseen 
and eternal ! The Sabbath can make little spiritual impression 
with its newspapers, its street traffic, its excursions and sports. 
The stately church edifices do not remind him of the little white 
meeting-house with its green blinds. The voice of the preacher 
never reaches even the vestibule. The grand volume of sacred 
music is muffled by the massive walls. What is there in the life 
of the non-church-goer to arrest him in his course, what to re- 
mind him of broken vows, of covenants unkept ? Scarcely a 
thing even to remind him there is a God. The stone pavements, 
the brick walls, the brown-stone fronts, feebly declare the glory 
of God and show his handiwork. The pure pale starlight 
shrinks from rivalling the glare of the electric light. Even the 
sun seems unlovely. Nature indeed is crowded out : she 
barely has standing room in a few scattered parks. Scarcely 
able to make herself heard, she speaks no "variable language" 
to him. And as for his conscience — it has little opportunity. 
So great is the city's clamor and confusion, a man cannot hear 
himself think. He has little quiet and no solitude. He is not 
alone with God. The omnipresence of man conceals the omni- 
presence of God. 

Nor do men speak to him of faith, hope, and charity. He 
knows men are harsh and grasping. ''All is fair in love and 
war," and he finds it all war. He is told that a corporation has 
no soul, and he concludes that every man is a corporation in 
business whatever he may be elsewhere. He does not search 
for lovely Christian characters. They do not search for him. 
He thinks there are none. His associations push him down in- 
stead of helping him up. What is there in this intense city life 
to arouse, to inspire the noble in him } The brightest public 
place is the saloon ; the strongest invitation is the harlot's ; the 
commonest word is the oath ; the easiest step is toward sin. I 
marvel that any man ever escapes from that life. Each one 
saved is a walking miracle. There is a point in the rapids 
where a man alone cannot possibly stem the current. Unless 




(8o) 



IN MITRE COURT, GLOUCESTER. 



8i 

rescue is brought to him he is lost. Open-air preaching is un- 
satisfactory in many ways, but in no other way can multitudes 
in our cities be reached. How full are its annals with the 
records of the rescue of such. It is preeminently a way of sav- 
ing backsliders. Though these shun the sanctuary, the Gospel 
is not yet powerless. A hymn, a prayer, a word of Scripture, 
an earnest appeal by the street preacher, awakens the slumber- 
ing past. O the power of a hymn taught by a mother! 
Should an angel, hovering over a great city some night, sing 
with a mother's voice and a mother's heart, if that were possible, 
'' Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber," hands clutching ill-got- 
ten gains would relax, feet swift to death would halt, bleared 
eyes would fill with innocent tears, hardened visages would 
soften into penitence, and many a soul would sob itself back to 
righteousness. Men and women, to whom God has given sweet 
voices, have mercy, for Jesus Christ's sake, have mercy upon 
these wanderers. Unless some one sings to them their mother's 
song, they will be lost forever. 

What a powerful reminder is a bowed head. Many in our 
cities for long years have not seen knee bent, head bowed, eyes 
closed in prayer. But as they pass a group of worshipers, 
something brings like a flash the picture of that servant of God 
in the little quiet church, or perhaps the father gathering them 
about the family altar — it may have been the reverent manner, 
the tender voice, or the familiar words. I am not picturing an 
imaginary scene, but what often has occurred. How many have 
thus been restored to the path of righteousness ! How many 
more might have been had we been faithful ! But some would 
protest, " Would you have us stand in prayer on the street cor- 
ners to be seen of men .? " Yes, I would. Surely the Master 
was not condemning this, but hypocrisy. Let the lost wanderer 
who has heard the name of Jesus a myriad times in coarse pro- 
fanity, let him hear it once in prayer. Let him who ten thou- 
sand times has seen man prostrate before the demon alcohol be- 
hold him bow before Jehovah. Let him who has heard only 
voluptuous music and ribald song listen to sweet voices singing 
the beautiful words of life. Something is needed to remind 
him of what has been, to awaken spiritual sensibilities now 
slumbering in his heart. 



82 

Open-air preaching has saved many backsHders. More 
might so be saved. We should not be neglectful, though they 
are doing wrong. For that very reason we should search them 
out. It is true our church doors are open, and whosoever will 
may come, and that they are "without excuse," under just con- 
demnation for not coming; but that is no excuse for us. Shall 
we let the harlot, once as fair and pure as our sons and daugh- 
ters, who for very shame and bitterness will not enter the holy 
place, die in her sins without trying to win her.-^ Shall we let 
the tempted and fallen youth, once the pride of his mother's 
heart, who now in his swagger scorns the sanctuary, die in 
his sins without warning.? Shall we say to the strong man, 
embittered by unjust treatment and starvation wages received 
from Christian employers, " Die in your sins ^ " Not thus 
have we been commanded. If we do, it may be better in the 
day of judgment for them than for us. The Lord hath said : 
"When I say unto the wicked 'Thou shalt surely die': and 
thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked 
from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man 
shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine 
hand. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the 
house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth, and 
give them warning from me." 

The time when our cities shall be permeated with the Gos- 
pel life and spirit, as were the towns from which they grew, or 
from which their founders came, is distant. But surely, as the 
Lord liveth, it will come. The Gospel is bound to triumph 
among all these widely different classes, for the Gospel has 
not lost its power, nor is the Church of Christ dead. The 
body of the city has outgrown its soul. But the soul lives. It 
is growing. In time it will dominate the body. The evangel- 
ization of our cities is certain. The task, however, is difficult. 
Efforts in many different ways must be made unceasingly. Let 
there be people's palaces, missions, institutional churches, 
stately cathedrals. These and many other things are needed. 
But we should not neglect to carry the Gospel to the people 
where they are. The more extensively judicious, earnest, 
spiritual open-air work is employed, the more quickly will our 
cities be evangelized, and this difficult problem solved. 



"WHO WILL GO FOR US?" 



'' And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ' Whom shall I 
send, and who will go for us ? ' " If Christ were here in visi- 
ble presence, as eighteen centuries ago, He surely, as then, 
would be found going to the people in their houses of worship, 
at their social gatherings, on the hillsides, by the seashore, and 
in the streets. Who will go for Him ? Plenty volunteer to rep- 
resent Him in our churches and chapels ; but who will repre- 
sent Him on the streets ? If the force is to be commensurate 
with the task, laymen and women must volunteer as well as 
ministers. How nobly they have responded to the call for in- 
structors of the young ! Over a million Christians are teachers 
in our Sunday-schools, where a hundred years ago there were 
practically none. How grandly they have performed their duty 
in our prayer-meetings ! A vast multitude, by narrating their 
experiences and expounding the Scriptures, are accomplishing 
much in the perfecting of the saints, in bringing us all nearer 
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ ! 

Why should laymen, so widely and wisely employed in these 
two directions, so generally remain inactive in evangelistic 
effort.? Why should the vast multitudes, found neither in 
Sabbath schools nor prayer-meetings, be deprived of their 
spiritual influence ? For the adequate presentation of the Gos- 
pel to these non-church-going masses, we need not a few thou- 
sand open-air preachers, as there are to-day, but a million and 
more — as many as there are Sunday-school teachers; as many 
as are active in our prayer-meetings. Think of the spiritual 
power of the laymen in our churches ! If brought to bear on 
the unevangelized in our cities, the number of these would be 
materially reduced. 

Let our churches as such, under the leadership of their 
pastors, engage in this, work, showing the world that the Church 
is earnest in its search for the lost. 

Let every Young Men's Christian Association enter into it, 

(83) 



84 

because open-air audiences consist largely of men. In no other 
way can they bring the Gospel to so many young men. 

Let our organized bodies of young Christians take it up. I 
have been charmed and inspired by the fearless and winning 
testimony for Christ given by intelligent young men and re- 
fined young women at open-air services. One Sunday even- 
ing I accompanied the members of a young people's society as 
they went to hold an open-air meeting. They gathered about 
a lamp post and commenced singing. Soon a considerable 
audience assembled and among them some children. As a 
young man was about to offer prayer, a dirty, ragged little girl 
commenced to attract the attention of every one. The young 
man hesitated a moment. Then quickly one of their number, a 
young lady of evident refinement, stepped forward. Placing her 
gloved hand upon the child, she drew the little one close to her 
side and bowed her head. The child caught her spirit, and 
nestling in the folds of her dress remained perfectly quiet. All 
present w^ere touched and reverently drew near to the throne of 
grace. Let our young people with such a spirit go out into the 
highways and hedges and compel them to come in. 

Who will go for us ? Open-air preaching is no pastime, no 
honor-bringing, luxurious undertaking. Opposition will meet alL 
Some will ridicule. Many regard it as useless self-degradation, 
beneath a Christian gentleman and altogether improper for 
a lady. Friends too gentle and loving to ridicule and oppose 
convictions of duty will grieve if it is attempted. 

Then the work itself is hard — the opposition, sometimes 
words, sometimes blows, is disheartening, as also is the un 
certainty concerning an audience, the inopportune distractions, 
and the impossibility of ascertaining results. I do not urge 
open-air preaching because I enjoy it. Some men find it a 
delight. I do not. I shrink from it. It is the greatest cross 
I have to bear. If I thought this work could be accomplished 
in any other way, I never would do it any more. I pray God 
the time may soon come when it no longer is necessary. But 
it is necessary. I must. You must. A million more must. 
"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send, 
and who will go for us.''" God grant that from a thousand 
thousand hearts will come the answer '* Here am I ; send me." 



THE BEST METHODS. 



I have thus far emphasized the prominence given to open- 
air preaching in the past and present, especially in Great 
Britain, and the various forms in which it is used. The fol- 
lowing suggestions as to the best methods to be employed 
are not based simply on my own experience, but also and 
mainly on the experience of others, as narrated in the reports 
of the Open-Air Mission, which run back nearly forty years 
and include each year records from scores of places all over 
the world. I have gathered much also from pamphlets and 
books, especially Mr. Kirkham's '' Open-Air Preacher's Hand- 
Book," and Mr. Spurgeon's lectures to his students on this 
subject ; from my own observation in different parts of Great 
Britain ; and from my conversations with many successful 
open-air preachers. 

I offer these suggestions with the full knowledge that in this 
kind of work every man should be a law unto himself and that 
any attempt to follow blindly a set of rules is apt to result in 
dismal failure ; but I am equally certain that much of the disre- 
pute into which open-air preaching has fallen in some commu- 
nities is due to zeal without knowledge, and that many blunders 
and failures would have been prevented by a little wise counsel. 

The manner of conducting open-air services demands care- 
ful consideration because the preacher, having greater freedom, 
is more liable to error than at an indoor gathering where ordi- 
narily little is left to his judgment — the hour, the speaker's 
position, the number and order of the parts, the character of 
each and the length of the entire service, being established 
usually by custom. But in the open air he must decide these 
details each time for himself, according to the ever-varying cir- 
cumstances of the occasion. 

His task, moreover, does not consist simply, as at a church 
service, in impressing the truth on hearers who have assembled 
and who will tarry until the close. He must be able also to 
gather an audience and keep it. If he fails in these, his entire 
effort is in vain. One Sunday morning in London, I saw a 

(85) 



86 

man preaching on the street without a congregation. His 
words may have been winning and his thoughts impressive, 
but he had erred so in the selection of the locality, time, and 
his position that the gathering of an audience was an impossi- 
bility. 

Frequently workers succeed in drawing but fail in keeping 
those who come. Such a misfortune I witnessed in Notting- 
ham, where some young men had collected a company, but un- 
wisely had chosen a location where they were liable to inter- 
ruption. Suddenly the counter-attraction appeared, and soon 
after these young men, deserted by their audience, could be 
seen with their Bibles under their arms disconsolately retiring 
from the field of battle. Had they used better judgment they 
might have continued successfully to the end. 

The open-air preacher must do some things to attract and 
others to keep his hearers. Many lose sight of this in criticiz- 
ing words and acts that have no direct spiritual import, forget- 
ting that these may be a substitute, often a great improvement 
too, for the clanging church bell ; or that they may have the 
same function as four walls, a roof, closed doors, and cushioned 
seats, namely, to keep the audience while the truth is being 
presented. As such they should be judged. 

But while these two objects must be sought, it never should 
be forgotten that they are only means to the one great end, 
which is the making of spiritual impressions. This must ever 
be kept in the view of speaker and hearer alike. 

The belief that improprieties will be overlooked in the open 
air is entirely erroneous. Unusual methods are justifiable and 
among them many condemned by ecclesiastical fastidiousness ;. 
but improprieties and especially things coarse or irreverent are 
altogether out of place and harmful. Mistakes are likely to 
produce evil consequences, for the audience often contains many 
in whose heart the smoking flax of faith burns so low that a very 
little will quench it ; others who are prejudiced against the 
church and are ready to have that prejudice intensified, and 
others glad to find in some mistake material for their irrever- 
ence and justification for their evil ways. Surely of open-air 
preaching also it may be said : " and therefore, is not by any to 
be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, dis- 
creetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God.'' 



87 

The Need of Preparation. Though in this work much is 
necessarily extemporaneous, careful preparation should not be 
neglected. Let the physical life be developed, for a vigorous 
delivery is most important, and that comes naturally only from 
a man possessed of good health and some physical vitality. 
Though it is not necessary to make Samsons of ourselves, we 
should be able to stand firmly on our feet. A weakling can 
get along by grasping a chair to steady himself, or by resting 
his body on the back of a pew or on a pulpit, but he should not 
try speaking in the open air until he can stand alone and have 
some surplus energy for use in speaking. 

Scholarly and elaborate discourses generally are out of place, 
but thoughtful presentations of truth are necessary for effective 
work. " Anything will do in open-air work " is taken from the 
devil's Book of Proverbs. The hand-organ style is too com- 
mon. The good man has his '' experience " or '' testimony" or 
sermonette, and when he is started he grinds it out exactly as 
he has given it scores of times these many years. Men should 
come rather each time under the inspiration of a new truth or 
a clearer perception or deeper realization of one before known. 
The temptation to say the same thing in the same way is espec- 
ially strong because the audiences vary so greatly. But yielding 
is fatal to a man's best influence. While I have heard some 
speak in such a way that it seemed as though they must have 
run all the way from the fountain of life, the water they gave 
was so fresh and sparkling, what others offered was stale and 
tasteless, and I did. not wonder it was refused though offered 
without money and without price. 

Every sentence should contain a message. The sword of 
the Spirit should be flashing constantly. In a church we have 
a man before us an hour and we may hope, however poor the 
effort, that something in that time will reach him. But in the 
open air many remain only a moment, and if that moment is 
barren of spiritual results, the opportunity is lost. Therefore 
should the open-air preacher study diligently the Bible, making 
special preparation for each effort and constantly gathering 
material for future us€. Also let him study human nature, 
become familiar with history, especially the lives of Wesley, 
Whitefield, and other great open-air preachers, read newspapers, 
gather illustrations, commit to memory apt sayings, become 



' ss 

familiar with great truths. Of great value are the conferences 
of open-air preachers. Attend them. If there are none, intro- 
duce them. Even after the most thorough and conscientious 
preparation seldom will a man find himself fully equal to the 
demands and opportunities of this kind of work. 

The spiritual preparation, however, is the most important, 
and again comparing, I say more important than for the con- 
duct of public worship in the house of God. There the con- 
sciousness that we are standing on holy ground, the solemn 
stillness, the influence of sacred associations, the reverent mul- 
titude and the music tend to arouse and intensify spiritual emo- 
tions and exalt the soul. But in the open air the passing of the 
multitude, the noise of the traffic, the covered heads, and the 
innumerable distractions ever present tend to dissipate spiritu- 
ality. The lamp, which in a closed room lights all, without can 
do little more than reveal its own presence. We need more 
of " that light " to illumine our own souls and to shine forth so 
clear and so strong that those in darkness may be able to see 
the path of life. Spirituality is the open-air preacher's first and 
greatest need. " This kind can come forth by nothing but by 
prayer and fasting." Universal and invariable should be the 
habit of gathering for prayer before starting out. 

Relation to Local Authorities. If the law does not 
allow open-air services, secure all possible endorsement and 
approach the authorities with a reasonable request, not asking 
everything, but simply permission for certain limited hours, 
places, and persons. If these meetings are conducted properly, 
an extension of the privilege will not be difficult. If the first 
request is refused, repeat at suitable intervals, avoiding a man- 
ner liable to antagonize. Quiet persistence and influence will 
prevail ordinarily. Yield to the police always, making com- 
plaint subsequently at headquarters, if there is just ground. 

When public grounds are refused, private property can often 
be secured, such as vacant lots, lawns, meadows, where the police 
have no restrictive control. In a New England city, under 
such circumstances, an open lot adjacent to the park was rented 
and proved perfectly satisfactory. 

The Leader. Mr. Kirkham says," A leader is essential." 
He should lead to the place, arrange the workers, conduct the 



89 

opening exercises, call upon the speakers, quiet disturbances, 
direct the distribution of tracts, look after enquirers and close 
the meeting. Thus the speakers and singers are relieved from 
distracting responsibilities. Of course the leader cannot do 
all these himself, but he should see that each thing is done by 
some one and properly. A ridiculous performance occurred in 
Victoria Park, London, one Sunday afternoon when several 
speakers stood looking at each other and saying, " You speak 
next," "Oh, no, you," etc. While they were settling it, the 
audience scattered. Let the leader see that the meeting moves 
along without delay, always having a hymn ready in case there 
should be hesitation anywhere. All should place themselves 
under his direction, and should instantly, without protest, 
accede to his wishes. If there is any objection, it should be 
offered afterwards in some less public place. 

The Time. Ordinarily go when the people are at leisure. 
On Sunday little can be done before eleven, and during the 
week the noon hour and the evening alone offer profitable 
opportunities, except on holidays and special occacions. Dark- 
ness is a help rather than a hindrance. Often larger audi- 
ences can then be gathered, and some people cannot be reached 
at any other time. A street lamp or torch will supply light 
enough, but even these are not necessary. In every place, an 
hour Sunday morning, another in the evening, and another dur- 
ing the week, are occupied by the regular church services. Do 
not hold open-air gatherings during these hours. Clear sum- 
mer weather is most advantageous. Let us not, however, earn 
the title of fair weather Christians. Spurgeon says : " In Scot- 
land, I have heard of sermons amid the sleet, and John Nelson 
writes of speaking to ' a crowd too large to get into the house, 
though it was dark and snowed,' " and in another place, Mr. 
Spurgeon writes of his own experience in preaching in the rain. 
Mr. Kirkham, referring to the text, *' Hast thou entered into the 
treasures of the snow ? " says : " I have frequently preached on 
the snow in a double sense, z. e., standing upon it and talking 
about it." I find many allusions in the Open-Air Mission 
reports to successful meetings in stormy weather, and of con- 
versions "when the snow lay on the ground." A certain Eng- 
lish evangelist invariably precedes his " meetings in winter and 



I 

i 



91 

summer alike by half an hour or more of open-air work." In 
New York City, the " open-air service continued with hardly a 
break during the year " at the Broome Street Tabernacle. Of 
course these are exceptional cases, but they warn against 
being over particular about the weather. In a populous dis- 
trict where many spend all their leisure time on the streets, a 
service preliminary to an indoor meeting is apt to draw more on 
a stormy day than when the weather is fine. People also are 
impressed with an earnestness whose ardor is not quenched by 
a little rain. As one said : " You're a downright good 'un to 
come after us such a day as this." "Be instant in season, out 
of season." 

It is entirely a mistaken idea that the American climate is 
so unfavorable that open-air preaching cannot be sustained 
here successfully. 

The Location. Go where the people are, and choose a 
place where it is natural and easy for them to come. In every 
locality are places where people will readily congregate and 
where more can be gathered than at any other place, as in 
ponds there are " spots " or " holes " where fish are abundant, 
while a few rods away the line will dangle all day without a 
bite. Observe and experiment until these places are found. 

If in the country, a hillside with the speaker at the foot is 
desirable, allowing the voice to rise to the audience. Vast 
numbers can thus be addressed. In a town choose the village 
green for large gatherings, lawns and piazzas for smaller meet- 
ings. In the courts and alleys of a city, stand near the houses, 
so that people can hear without being seen. An English min- 
ister writes concerning his experience in this kind of work : '* I 
have known many persons quietly pass into houses near which 
I have been expected, on purpose to listen to the preaching, 
who would not allow themselves to be seen attending any kind 
of religious services." If the audience is to be drawn from a 
crowded city street, find a spot, not on the thoroughfare nor in 
the crowd, but very near them — a side street, a vacant lot, an 
open square, a few rods from the throng. In parks and at all 
public gatherings the same rule applies — very near the crowd, 
but not in it ; but beware of large open spaces where the com- 
pany will look insignificantly small. Choose a corner or some 



92 

place where even a few will look like a crowd. The foot of a 
large tree offers an excellent position unless there is a strong 
wind. Such places are very popular with speakers in the parks 
of London. 

Make it comfortable for the audience so that they will stay. 
If the day is hot, try to find a shady place for them ; if there is 
a cold wind, let them stand on the leeward side of a wall or 
building ; if it storms, find for them a shed, railroad arch, or 
some sheltered corner. Never compel them to stand with the 
sun in their eyes. 

A wall behind the speaker helps the voice, and Mr. Spurgeon 
gives this advice : " Preach so that the wind carries your voice 
towards the people and does not blow it down your throat, 
or you will have to eat your own words." Always stand upon 
some elevation — a curbstone, step, box, chair, platform, any- 
thing to raise you above the people. This is very important. 
Otherw^ise, only a few can hear with comfort, but if the speaker 
stands on an elevation, and the people gather close about him, 
several hundred can come within range of an average voice and 
heartily enjoy the service. Church yards and steps are excel- 
lent if the people will come, because the preaching is linked 
more closely with the church life, and freedom from certain 
kinds of interruptions and independence from municipal author- 
ity are secured. Every evening during several months of the 
year such services are held in front of Newman Hall's church 
in London. 

Gathering the Audience. Sometimes notices in church 
and newspapers, distribution of hand-bills and personal invita- 
tions are sufficient. Often other means must be tried. If 
alone, take a stand and commence to read the Bible aloud. 
If skillfully done this may secure a nucleus for an audience. 
Mr. Davis of Cardiff says : " I find this brings a crowd together 
better than singing." Or, commence a conversation with 
some who may be standing about and include in your words 
others as they draw near. A successful Liverpool minister, 
following the example of the churches, rings a bell which 
he carries in his hand, until an audience assembles. Many 
use a banner with the name of their organization upon it, 
or a passage of Scripture, or a picture which can be used in the 



93 

address ; at night a torch or lantern with lettering on the glass 
answer the same purpose. " Mr. Edwin Carter of Liverpool has 
drawn crowds by showing dissolving views in the open air." 
Dr. Samuel Fairbank reports concerning his work in India : 
" The audiences secured by reading, singing, and preaching in 
the streets are usually small. If such an audience numbers 
fifty the preacher is well pleased. . . . For many years I 
used a magic lantern of the old style and found it a great 
attraction. Practice taught the way to use the pictures instead 
of texts and to preach short sermons on the subjects illustrated 
by the pictures." Having secured a better instrument which 
would throw on the screen a picture eight feet in diameter, he 
adds : " I have counted as well as I could in the dark, and have 
found that our audiences usually number 300 or 400. In each 
of two large villages there were six hundred." Instrumental 
music always attracts ; so does a chorus. Children's choirs 
have proved a success. 

If there are several workers, some invariably should stand 
in front of the speakers to form the front row. Here is a 
work for those who can neither sing nor speak; and a most 
important work it is. People are unwilling to stand close to a 
speaker and directly in front of him, and consequently often 
the audience stand a long way off or on one side, or even 
behind him. One day I drew up to an open-air meeting, and 
suddenly became conscious that I was alone in front, facing a 
preacher, a Bible reader, several musicians, and a large chorus, 
all of whose gospel earnestness seemed to be concentrated on 
me. I stood it for a moment and then fled ignominiously. I 
can stand preaching to a crowd or listening with others, but to 
have a whole company preaching at me, while England looked 
on, that was too much. However, I did as the rest had done 
before me. I came around in the rear and enjoyed the service ; 
whether the preacher did with all his audience behind his back, 
I do not know. Had a few of his helpers formed a row directly 
in front at the proper distance, all the audience would have 
gathered behind them. 

Having attracted an audience, cease trying to draw and 
concentrate every effort on retaining those who come. Once 
started, the crowd will do the drawing, and the size of the audi- 
ence will depend upon their being interested enough to stay. 



94 

Singing. If there is to be singing, a cornet, horn, or some 
other musical instrument is desirable. In Great Britain a 
melodeon on wheels is often taken to the place of meeting. 
Hymn-books may be passed about, but even better are printed 
sheets upon which are hymns and perhaps a few verses of 
Scripture and an invitation to some house of worship. Distrib- 
ute liberally and let them be carried home. , In parts of England 
the leader often, instead of reading the entire hymn at once, 
reads each verse separately just before it is sung. Familiar 
hymns should be chosen, not necessarily only the " lively " tunes, 
but also the grand old hymns familiar from childhood to many, 
and doubly impressive by reason of associations. Mr. Double 
of Hoxton tells of a young man who rushed excitedly from a 
saloon to oppose the preaching, but was silenced by the hymn, 
"There is a fountain filled with blood," saying, "I can't stand 
that — it was my mother's." If the singing is good, let there 
be plenty of it ; if not, the less the better : if decidedly weak, 
total abstinence is best. Singing is not essential. If at- 
tempted, however, it should be strong, hearty, and spirited 
from the first. Unless it is, the audience will not join 

Though not necessary, a large well-trained chorus and a 
good orchestra are greatly to be desired. The Charrington 
Mission of East London send on Sunday afternoon their mili- 
tary brass band of 30 pieces to Victoria Park. In the evening 
these are divided into four companies and occupy as many differ- 
ent stations. Of course large numbers gather about them, as 
they also do in Hyde Park about the large choir under Mr. 
Charles Cook's leadership. Sometimes quartettes and solos 
are sung effectively, and one worker says that when one of the 
ladies sings a solo " hundreds of people gather round, and thus 
many hear the gospel sung, who would never walk a yard to hear 
the best speaker " Ordinarily, however, the aim should be to 
inspire others to join in the singing. Let it be remembered 
that singing is not simply to attract. Its spiritual power is 
great. 

Prayer. Though preparatory prayer never should be 
omitted, prayer in the open air is not always desirable. But a 
short reverent prayer, very short and very reverent, generally 
should be offered. It bids the people look from the creature to 



95 

the Creator more emphatically than can anything else. A 
Scripture Reader at the close of a meeting was addressed by a 
man who afterward became an earnest Christian. During the 
singing and speaking he had become very angry and " picked 
up," he said, "a large brick from the building close by to throw 
at you ; but the prayer you said made me feel so strange that 
I put the brick down, and before I knew what I was about I 
had spoken to you, and am glad I did so." 

The one offering the prayer should remove or raise his hat, 
and if others do not do that, they should by closed eyes, bowed 
head, hand raised to the face, and perfect silence, indicate their 
reverence. Sometimes an audience will join in the Lord's 
Prayer. That is well. 

Scripture. Read something short and interesting, — a par- 
able, miracle, incident, message, something complete in itself. 
Avoid argumentative, obscure, or long passages. Do not hesitate 
to read several times, nor on the other hand to omit altogether 
the formal reading of a Bible lesson. Use constantly, however, 
quotations and incidents from the Bible. In a church the 
Scriptures are assumed to be the foundation of the discourse ; 
here, it must be shown. Avoid, however, affectation in the use 
of the Bible ; it is growing quite common. Large limp-covered, 
broad-margined Oxfords are for study, not display. A small 
book is best. Do not make a show of turning to every passage 
mentioned, and reading it, nor is it necessary to give book, 
chapter, and verse of each quotation. Quote accurately and be 
ready to state where it is found. One man in preaching where 
there were many Romanists could not read the Bible without 
antagonizing his audience ; but he could and did repeat to them 
from memory long passages of scripture. In reading, be thor- 
oughly familiar with the passage. Running comments are 
effective if brief, pointed, and pithy. Too often they are mere 
paraphrases, weakening rather than intensifying the truth of 
the words read. Few can do this successfully and none should 
attempt it without careful preparation. 

Notices and Collection. If the service is preliminary to 
an indoor gathering, or if there are to be other open-air meet- 
ings, notice to that effect should be given clearly and with a 
warm invitation. If it is not declared by a banner or printed 



96 

slip, announce invariably a place wnere the workers can be 
found subsequently, in case any are awakened and desire more 
light. 

One summer, my church, the Eastern Avenue of Springfield, 
transferred the evening service out-doors and followed the regular 
form including the collection. No harm came from it. But 
where the audience consists of strangers ordinarily it is not a 
profitable undertaking, as we are apt to receive little and to 
lose our audience, for at the announcement their hands go into 
their pockets and they saunter innocently down the street. 

The Address. Have a text always. It need not be called 
such. It need not come at the beginning, but let the whole 
address concentrate itself on some short, striking passage of 
Scripture. Repeat the text frequently. Let anecdotes, expe- 
riences, arguments, appeals rain down like sledge-hammer 
blows, driving this wedge of God's truth into hard hearts. 
Avoid texts needing explanations and limitations, because the 
audiences change constantly and late comers will misunder- 
stand the text and its application. 

Have a plan in the discourse, but not so as to make the effect 
of one part dependent on another part being heard. A grand 
climax at the end built on preceding arguments generally is 
not effective. Clinch every nail as it is driven. Follow each 
argument and* illustration with a practical application or an 
appeal. 

Use liberally quotations and illustrations. Few can hold 
an audience without them. Mr. Spurgeon thus advises his 
students : " In the street a man must keep himself alive and 
use many illustrations and anecdotes, and sprinkle a quaint 
remark here and there. To dwell long on a point will never 
do. Reasoning must be brief, clear, and soon done with. The 
discourse must not be labored or involved, neither must the 
second head depend upon the first, for the audience is a chang- 
ing one and each point must be complete in itself .... 
Short sentences of words and short passages of thought are 
needed for out-of-doors." On the other hand, avoid making 
the sermon a series of stories, or simply a personal experience 
or zealous appeal. In everything let there be a truth, a vital 
burning truth, — a truth illustrated if need be, a truth experienced, 



97 



a truth applied, but always a truth, which should be constantly 
before the speaker's mind and which the hearers should always 
feel. Mr. Kirkham thus warns against a kindred danger : "■ I 
have heard street preachers try to catch and keep a street 
audience by a succession of odd and amusing stories, told appar- 
ently for the sake of showing the preacher's smartness. This 
is a vice to be reprobated." 

Ordinarily the preaching should be evangelistic, its aim 
conversion. Though the addresses all lead up to " repentance 
towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," monot- 
ony is not a necessity. '' All roads leads to Rome," but they 
start from ten thousand different places. Even if all sermons 
should lead to conversion, the good brother need not, as is the 
manner of some, always choose the same starting point and 
travel the same road, as though there were none other. Of 
almost equal importance are addresses to backsliders. Open-air 
work has been singularly successful in reaching this class. 

In nothing is the fa- _ 

mous orator's emphasis 
on the importance of '* ac- 
tion" more pertinent than 
in this kind of speech. 
An earnest, impressive 
manner and expressive 
and forceful gestures are 
valuable. " In the streets 
a man must from begin- 
ning to end be intense." 
Another says, " Life, fire, 
and energy are essen- 
tial as the powder is 
essential to carry the 
shot." 

A manuscript, of course, 
is out of place. Brief 
notes are allowable, but 
undesirable. Memorizing * fisherman's sermon. 

a discourse generally neutralizes the magnetism of personal 
address. Mr. Kirkham says, and wisely, " I know of no better 
plan than to prepare an outline ; and leave to the Holy Ghost 




\ 



98 

on the one hand, and to the occasion on the other, to clothe it 
with suitable words." All the rules concerning the culture of 
the voice and its use in public speech are pertinent. The 
special dangers in the open air are pitching the voice too high 
and shouting. Almost every beginner does this. Accustomed 
to the resonance within a building, the speaker not hearing it 
in the open air feels as though he were making no appreciable 
sound, even when he can really be heard a long distance. Be- 
gin in a low, quiet, conversational tone, and increase the vol- 
ume gradually, if the people by their manner indicate their 
inability to hear. Generally, however, it is not more sound 
that is needed but better enunciation and less rapidity. An 
astonishingly large number can hear a person with a compara- 
tively weak voice if only he speaks distinctly and slowly. In 
any case it is more profitable for a few to hear the gospel 
explained in a natural voice than for a multitude to listen to 
the frantic screams of an ambitious herald. Avoid turning the 
head too much to either side. Sending the sound in another 
direction throws parts of the audience out of the range of the 
voice. 




THE MULBERRY TREE, MILDMAY PARK, LONDON. 



99 

The Order and Length. Brevity and variety are the two 
essentials. Several short addresses are better than one, even 
where there is only one speaker. " I find," says one man, 
" the best way to hold a company for any length of time is to 
give short addresses of five or six minutes' duration between 
the verses of some favorite hymn." Judgment based on expe- 
rience and the circumstances of the occasion alone can deter- 
mine whether the service should last five minutes or five hours, 
and what prominence should be given to each part. " Prove 
all things. Hold fast that which is good." 

Interruptions. These things must be from a child's merry 
laugh to a brickbat. Sometimes it is wise to continue in spite 
of all interruptions, but ordinarily if circumstances appear 
which are certain to destroy the spiritual influence of the 
gathering, adjourn to another time or place. "When men are 
drunk," says Mr. Spurgeon, " there is no reasoning with them, 
and of furious Irish Papists we may say the same. Little is to 
be done with such unless the crowd around will co-operate, as 
they oftentimes will." One of England's oldest and most suc- 
cessful open-air preachers told me he never appealed to the 
police, but always to the crowd, who invariably responded, even 
going so far as to duck the intruder in a neighboring pond. 
" A little mother wit is often the best resource, and will work 
wonders with a crowd." Spurgeon tells how Gideon Ousley, 
when preaching in the open air, transformed an Irish mob into 
an attentive audience. " I want to tell you," he said, " a story 
about one whom you all respect and love, the Blessed Virgin." 
"Och," was the reply, "and what do you know about the 
Blessed Virgin ! " "More than you think," he answered, and 
proceeded to tell of the marriage at Cana until he came to the 
words, " Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." Then he 
preached his sermon on what Christ tells us to do, taking up 
the cardinal doctrines and enforcing each exhortation by the 
Virgin's counsel to the servants at Cana. 

Do not enter into discussion with any in the audience. 
Answer questions frankly, and, if discussion seems desirable, 
offer to meet the man at the close of the meeting. Do not be 
diverted from the simple preaching of the gospel. Above all, 



100 

followers of Christ never should lose self-control, nor, how- 
ever great the provocation, indulge in loud, angry, threatening 
language. 

Closing. If an indoor meeting is to follow, say nothing 
until the end, then give the notice and start instantly before 
the people commence to scatter. Many sing as they go. If 
the company is large enough this is very desirable. If possible 
the workers in starting should go not away from the crowd, 
but through them, thus *' stampeding " them, as it were. 

If there is no after-meeting, make every effort to discover 
and help any who may have been touched. Invite the people 
to tarry for personal conversation. Seek out any who seemed 
particularly interested. Distribute tracts and accompany each 
with a Christian greeting. While abstaining from impertinent 
questions, watch for a look, a grasp of the hand, a word indi- 
cating a readiness or desire for further conversation. Here 
are the opportunities of leading men to a decision for Christ. 
These moments after the meeting, these personal conversations, 
are by far the most important part of the hour. Very many 
open-air preachers sin terribly in neglecting their opportunity 
and duty at this time. It seemed to me the weakest point in 
open-air work in many places in Great Britain. The moment 
the services close, each one should search for some one needing 
Christian sympathy and help. 

In Conclusion. After all suggestions have been consid- 
ered, remember that a sense of the fitness of things and de- 
pendence upon the Holy Ghost are the two essentials to suc- 
cess. As the Holy Ghost told Paul where to go, what to do, 
how to speak, so must He be our guide and strength, if we 
would fight a good fight. 



f^rn^'^ 



^ 



INDEX. 




Address, The . . . , . 


. 87, 96 


After the service, 


20, 49, 51, 100 


Aldhelm, Bishop . . ... 


. 6^ 


Amos, ..... 


II 


Apostles, Custom of the 


13 


Approval, Ecclesiastical 


.... . 42-45 


Arnold of Brescia, 


... . .28 


Audiences at doors and windows. 


.... .51,91 


Audiences ready for a preacher, 


61 


Audiences, Gathering 


20,35,49,51,92 


Audiences, Holding 


. 86, 93 


Audiences, Large 


. ' 31, 32, 35, 37, 38, 42, 44 


Audiences, Small 


15, 30, 51, si^ 70 


Augustine, . . . . ' 


. 16, 18 


Authorities, Government 


48, 62, %?> 


Back-sliders, Reaching . 


. 78-82 


Baptists (see also Spurgeon), 


44 


Bible, Reading of . . " . 


. 12,20,23,29,31,63,92,95 


Birds Fair in London, 


54 


Bishops, Testimony of . 


42 


Boniface, ..... 


.16, 18 


Booth, General (see also Salvation Army) 


59 


Broome St. Tabernacle in New York, . 


91 


Bunyan, ..... 


. - . . .36 


Business Principles, In accord with 


. . . 5, 72, 73 


Camp Meetings, .... 


.41,71 


Carrubber's Close mission in Edinburgh, 


• 49, 59 


Christ, Example of . . . 


13, 73, 83 


Christ, Presentation of . . . 


. 17, 49, 7^, 97 


Christian Community, The 


46 


Christian Evidence Society, The 


. 46 


Church of England, 


. 42, 43, 44, 55 


Church now ready for this work, 


.70 


Church-yards, In 


31, 32, 38, 42, 43, SS, 64, 71, 92 


City Evangelization, Relation to 


47, 72-82 


Classes of people best reached . 


7S. 7^, 7^ 


Common People, Attitude of 


. 48, 74 


Congregationalists (see also Eastern Avenue 


Church), . .44,45 


Cook, Charles .... 


46, 59, 94 


Crosses, Services at foot of . , 


19 


Darkness, In the 


. 42, 52, 53, 89 


DeHvery in speaking. 




Difficulties, .... 


. 16, 36, 39, 84 


Discussions to be avoided, 


. 38, 99 


Disturbances, .... 


• 30, 33, 39, 98 



(lOl) 



102 



Dominic and the Dominicans, 



i8, 30, 31 



Eastern Avenue Church in Springfield, 
Edinburgh, ..... 

Elijah, ...... 

Epworth, . . 

Exemplar, Our Great .... 

Ezra, ...... 


. 64,96 

. 49, 59 

II 

. 38, 71 

13 
12 


Fairs, At ..... 

Farel, . . . ' . 

Fields, In the . 

Francis and the Franciscans, 

Friars, Preaching .... 


. 25,31,32,46, 53, 54 
. 36 

9, 19, 33-36, 51, 57, 58 
17,30,31 
16, 29, 31 


Glasgow, ...... 

Gospel Wagon, ..... 

Great Britain, In . 

Guiness, H. Grattan .... 


: : : 11 

. 18, 31, 36, 41, 67, 85 
. 46 


Hall, Newman ..... 
Hay-field, In a . 

Helpers, Duties of ... . 
Henry of Clugny, .... 
Holland, George ..... 

Holland, In 

Homes, Near the .... 
Huss, ...... 


. 45, 92 
. s7 
. 89, 93 
. 28, 29 
. 46, 76 

' 35,41 
. 51,91 

32 


Improprieties unjustifiable. 
Indifferent, Suited for reaching the 
Indoor preaching, Forerunner of 
Interruptions, ..... 
Itinerating, ..... 
Isaiah, ...... 


86 

. 76 

9, 27, 31 

. 30, 33, 38, 39, 86, 98 

19, 20, 21 

. 11,73 


Jeremiah, ...... 

Jews, ...... 

John the Baptist, .... 

Jonah, ...... 

Joshua, ..... 

Justin Martyr, Conversion of . 


II 

. 12, 49, 53, 76 
12 

• 11,73 
10 
15 


Kirkham, Gawin ..... 


8, 41, 46, 85, 88, 89, 97 


Laymen, . 

Leaders, • . . . ... 

Length of service, . . . . 

Liverpool, ..... 

Local authorities, .... 

Location, 1 1, 19, 23, 30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 49, 5^ 
London, ..... 

London City Mission, .... 

Lull, Raymond ..... 

Luther, ...... 


8,31,35,45,83 

. 49, 88 

. 98 

42, 46, 52, 92 

48, 62, 88 

, 52, 55, 63, 65, 86, 90, 91 

41-60, 85, 89, 94 

. 45, 50 

17 

. 32, 62 



Macpherson, Miss Annie 



. 46, 54 



103 



Magic Lantern, . 


, 


, , 






. 


93 


Manchester, 


, , 








46, 51 


Manuscript, 


. 








97 


Mar's Hill, 


, 








14 


Mayor of London, Testimony of 








47 


McNeill, John . 










45 


Men, Adapted to reach . 








42, 45, 55 


69, 74 


Men of affairs. Approval of 










47 


Methodists, 








36-40, 41 


44, 71 


Ministers, 








45, 83 


Missionaries, 








15-25, 63 


Mistakes, 








86, 87, 89, 93 


Modern Missions, In 








19-25 


Moses, 








• 9, 73 


Mountain, On a . 








. 10, II, 13, 37 


Nature, Influence of 








. 10, 5S, 63, 77 


Netherlands, In 








33 


New York, 








. 6, 73, 74, 90 


Non-church-goers, 








62, 72-82 


Norber, founder of Premonstrants, 






30 


Nottingham, 


• 






. 52, 86 


Open-Air Mission, 




8, 41, 46 


,47, 


53, 54, 59, 85, 89 


Opportunity, No lack of 








61 


Opposition, 


II, 17, 


28, 29, 36 


>, 49 


62, 67, 70, 88, 98 


Order of parts in the service. 








. 98 


Parker, Dr. Joseph 








45 


Parks, At the 








• 55, 67, 77, 91 


Paton, Mrs. John G. 










. 63 


Patrick, 










. 16, 18 


Paul, 










14 


Pentecost, Day of 










14 


Peter of Bruys, . 










. 27,29 


Police, . 










. 48, 88 


Poor Men of Lyons, 










29 


Poor Priests, Wichf's 










. 26, 31 


Popular Resorts, At 










• 51, 53 


Popes, Attitude of 










29, 30,31 


Prayer, 










10, 81, 94 


Preachers, Need of more 








. 83 


Preliminary in their nature. Services 






20, 49-51, 100 


Preparation, 








. 87 


Presbyterians, 








44, 51, 59 


Public throughfares, On 








. 51,52 


Pulpits, 




12 


,31, 


33, 42, 43, 66, 92 


Quakers, 








44 


Quiet open-air services, 








23, S5, 63 


Rain, Preaching in the . 




7 


, 10, 


36, 37, 38, 57, 91 


Recreation, At places of 








• 55, 66 


Reformation checked by preaching friars. 






31 


Regular church services not 


discredited. 






77 


Results, 


14, 18, 20, 21, 


25, 31, 32 


, 37, 


40, 58, 64, 78, 94 


Results unrecorded, 








. 58, 59 


Reminding backsliders o 


E the 


past, 


. 




7S- 


-82, 94 



I04 



United States, In the 

Vacation season, Adapted to 
Voice, Use of, . 

Waldo, Peter, 

Wales, In 

Wesley, 

Whitefield, 

Wiclif, 

Winter, During the 

Wishart, 

Woffendale, Rev. Z. B. 

Workers, Testimony of Christian 

Working classes, In reaching the 



Year, During the entire 

Young Men's Christian Association, 

Young people at work, . 



Repetition, Danger of . 

Robert, Founder of Cistercians, 

Roman Catholics, 

Rome, At 

Rules, ImpossibiHty of following 

Rycroft, Canon, . 

St. Botolph's in London, 

St. Mary's in Whitechapel, 

Salvation Army, 

Samuel, . . ' . 

Scattered communities, Adapted to 

Schauffler, Dr. A. F. 

Scripture, Reading of, . 

Sea-shore, On the 

Shaftesbury, Testimony of the Earl of 

Singing, 20, 23, 25, 35, 49, 51, 53, 54, S7, 5^ 

Snow, In the 

Spirituality, Need of 

Spurgeon, . 9, 40, 45, S7 

Springfield, Mass., 

Streets, Preaching in the 

Summer, Adapted to 

Sympathy of common people, 



Tact, 

Taylor, Bishop 

Taylor, Jeremy 

Texts, 

Touring, 

Tracts, tjse of 

Trees, Under 



64,67 



, 60, 61, 63, 64, 70, 7 



. 87 

30 

17, 49, S3, 76 

28 

. 85 
42 

. 42, SS 

' 42, 43 

42, 44, 49, 59, 62 

10 

19, 20, 21, 69 

• S-7 
12, 20, 23, 29, 31, 63, 92, 95 
15, 16, 17, 56, S7 
47 
69, 81, 89, 92, 94, 100 

30, 51, 89 

88 

y6, 85, 89, 92, 96, 99 



64,96 
II, 17, 23, 26, 28, 33, 49-53, 61, 72-82, 91 

63-68, 70 
. 48, 74 



38, ^6, 99 
41 
. 68, 69 
35, 37, 38, 89, 96 
. 19-21 
100 
33, 40, SS, 63, 92 



7, 38, 41, 64, 67, 69, 71, 72-84, 



5, 91, 96 
. 66, 67 



29 

. 37, 58 

37-40, 71, d>7 

37-40, 87 

• 26, 31 

30, 51, 89 

. 36 

51 

60 

. 61, 62 



7, 49, SI, SS, 89, 91 
. 45, 83 
. 51, 84 



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